Joseph Montville, Tanenbaum Peacebuilding Program Advisory Council
Joseph “Joe” Montville, a beloved member of the Peacebuilding community and Tanenbaum Peacebuilding Program Advisory Council, passed away on June 1st surrounded by his family. We honor his legacy and, in the words of his daughter Clea, “his passion for making the world a better place.”
Montville served as Foreign Service Officer and coined the phrase “Track Two Diplomacy,” paving the way for multi-track diplomacy as we know it. Joe was among the leaders who made room for religiously motivated peace actors, like those in the Peacemakers in Action Network, to take a seat at the conflict transformation table.
He held posts and appointments at many universities, including American University and George Mason University, and founded the Abrahamic Family Reunion as well as the preventive diplomacy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. For Tanenbaum, he was a guiding force in our Peacebuilding program and contributed to the nominations process for Tanenbaum’s Peacemakers in Action Award. In fact, Tanenbaum’s first Peacemakers, Friar Ivo Markovic, Father Alec Reid, and Reverend Roy McGee, were candidates put forward by Joe. We are grateful to Joe for thoughtfully contributing his experience and expertise to the Peacebuilding program and its growth.