John N. Plank, professor emeritus of political science, died suddenly at his home in Storrs, Connecticut on April 30, 2005, at the age of 81.

A veteran of the North African and European campaigns in the Second World War, John received his A.B. from Harvard in 1949, his M.A. from Haverford in 1953, and his Ph.D. in 1959 from Harvard. At Harvard he was an instructor, assistant professor, and research associate at the Center for International Affairs. In 1962 he became a professor of Latin American Affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. The following year, John was appointed director of the Office of Research and Analysis for American Republics in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and later received the Superior Honor Award from the Department. From 1964 to 1970, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and from 1970 to 1985 he was professor of political science at the University of Connecticut.

John was the editor of Cuba and the United States: Long-Range Perspectives (Brookings, 1967), and he published numerous articles and essays on inter-American relations in scholarly books and journals as well as to wider audiences in Daedalus, Foreign Affairs, and the New York Times Magazine.

John was involved in numerous professional activities as well. He was president of the Inter-American Council, and a representative to the Senior Fulbright-Hays Program. Among other associations, John was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Latin American Program Advisory Committee to the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, the Faculty Advisory Committee of the National War College, the United States Committee of the Inter-American Association for Democracy and Freedom, and the United Nations Association Panel on Multilateral Alternatives to Unilateral Intervention.

A dedicated Quaker, John directed the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Project in Community Development in El Salvador, as well as the AFSC's International Service Division Executive Committee, its Davis House Executive Committee, and its International Affairs Program Executive Committee.

At the University of Connecticut, John taught courses in Latin American politics, inter-American relations, comparative politics, and political theory. His lifelong love of normative political theory infused his teaching, as he impressed on a generation of students the need to combine power with moral purpose.

When John retired in 1985, the University of Connecticut cited him for his scholarship, government and community service, in which he “carved out a notable place for himself as a voice of reason in hemispheric affairs…. Plank steadily articulated the need for U.S. policy to be formed with an understanding and compassion for the peoples of Latin America.” His community service and writing for a general audience reflected John's understanding that a supportive constituency for such policies had to be built.

John's retirement years were spent revisiting the classics of literature and political theory in the several languages he knew, and discovering new ones. He was active in the Storrs Friends Meeting, and he had a wealth of friends and admirers, who were attracted to his gentlemanly ways, his graciousness, and his keen interest in everyone he met.

John N. Plank is survived by his wife of 52 years, Eleanor, his brother Stephen, two sons and a daughter, and many devoted grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends.