Collector, Socialite, Diplomat. Son of Herbert Jermain Slocum and Marguerite Spear. Husband of Eileen G. Slocum (1915-2008); a noted Newport hostess and Republican fundraiser. A graduate from Harvard College in 1936 and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1938. On a recommendation from David Rockefeller, a Harvard classmate, he became a press aide to Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York. Resigning from serving Fiorella H. La Guardia in 1941, he enlisted as a private in the Army the following year. Serving in public-information posts and, rising to captain, he became a spokesman for the Joint Force that conducted atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands in 1946. Following his interest in foreign affairs, he served in the Press Division of the United States Information Agency and was posted to Cairo in the early 1960s as Cultural Attache. On returning to Washington in 1969, he served as Cultural Advisor in the USIA's Policy Division, and enjoyed a variety of assignments promoting cultural activities, particularly as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for Bicentennial Planning. He served as a member of the American Numismatic Society's Organizing Committee for the International Numismatic Congress held in New York and Washington, September 1973, and was given special responsibility for liaison with the Smithsonian Institution. In 1973 he was named a Patron of the ANS in recognition of his many contributions. On his retirement as a Councillor of the ANS in 1993 following nineteen years of loyal service, he was honored with a special Resolution of the Society. As a coin collector, Slocum developed a broad archaeological connoisseurship and also brought his scholarly interests to bear on the objects he acquired. His collecting interests were stimulated by his extensive travels in the Middle East during a period when large numbers of coins were coming into the local markets. His collection of Crusader gold and copper coins was by all accounts extraordinary. Gathering what is considered the world's foremost Joyce collection, including manuscripts of ''Dubliners,'' ''Chamber Music'' and the play ''Exiles,'' and a substantial collection of Joyce letters, all of which he donated to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1951. Retiring in 1989 to his beloved Newport home ~ a pink stone mansion built by his wife's family ~ he participated in the annual Republican fundraisers his wife held. Catching an illness in early 1997, he eventually passed away in August, surrounded by the family he loved, followed by burial in Island Cemetery.
Collector, Socialite, Diplomat. Son of Herbert Jermain Slocum and Marguerite Spear. Husband of Eileen G. Slocum (1915-2008); a noted Newport hostess and Republican fundraiser. A graduate from Harvard College in 1936 and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1938. On a recommendation from David Rockefeller, a Harvard classmate, he became a press aide to Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York. Resigning from serving Fiorella H. La Guardia in 1941, he enlisted as a private in the Army the following year. Serving in public-information posts and, rising to captain, he became a spokesman for the Joint Force that conducted atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands in 1946. Following his interest in foreign affairs, he served in the Press Division of the United States Information Agency and was posted to Cairo in the early 1960s as Cultural Attache. On returning to Washington in 1969, he served as Cultural Advisor in the USIA's Policy Division, and enjoyed a variety of assignments promoting cultural activities, particularly as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for Bicentennial Planning. He served as a member of the American Numismatic Society's Organizing Committee for the International Numismatic Congress held in New York and Washington, September 1973, and was given special responsibility for liaison with the Smithsonian Institution. In 1973 he was named a Patron of the ANS in recognition of his many contributions. On his retirement as a Councillor of the ANS in 1993 following nineteen years of loyal service, he was honored with a special Resolution of the Society. As a coin collector, Slocum developed a broad archaeological connoisseurship and also brought his scholarly interests to bear on the objects he acquired. His collecting interests were stimulated by his extensive travels in the Middle East during a period when large numbers of coins were coming into the local markets. His collection of Crusader gold and copper coins was by all accounts extraordinary. Gathering what is considered the world's foremost Joyce collection, including manuscripts of ''Dubliners,'' ''Chamber Music'' and the play ''Exiles,'' and a substantial collection of Joyce letters, all of which he donated to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1951. Retiring in 1989 to his beloved Newport home ~ a pink stone mansion built by his wife's family ~ he participated in the annual Republican fundraisers his wife held. Catching an illness in early 1997, he eventually passed away in August, surrounded by the family he loved, followed by burial in Island Cemetery.
