Robert C. McFarlane

Robert C. McFarlane, a former decorated Marine officer who rose in civilian life to be President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser and then fell from grace in the Iran-contra scandal, died on Thursday May 12 2022 in Lansing, Mich. He was 84. Robert C. (Bud) McFarlane serves as the Chairman of McFarlane Associates. Mr. McFarlane was the National Security Advisor under President Reagan from 1983-1985. In 1971 he was named a White House Fellow and served in the Office of Legislative Affairs in the White House. Following that assignment he became Military Assistant to Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft. Near the end of this five-year assignment to the White House he was appointed by President Ford as his Special Assistant for National Security Affairs and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy & Marine Corps’ highest peacetime military decoration. In 1981 he was appointed by President Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Counselor to the Department of State. In 1982 President Reagan appointed Mr. McFarlane as his Deputy National Security Advisor. In 1983 he was appointed by the President as his Special Representative in the Middle East. Following that assignment he returned to the White House and was appointed to the Reagan Cabinet as National Security Advisor. He is a co-founder (with Dr. Henry Kissinger) and Vice Chair of the America-China Society, serves on the Board of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the White House Fellows’ Foundation, and has been a member of the Boards of The Travelers, Dillon Read (France Fund), and Church & Dwight.