U.S. diplomats in Ottawa mourn loss of two colleagues By Jennifer Campbell, Ottawa Citizen October 30, 2012 It was a sad week for the staff at the U.S. Embassy. Within the space of three days, they lost two longtime diplomats to cancer. Sam Brock, minister counsellor for political affairs, died Oct. 24 at the age of 60 while Michael Alan Bricker, the embassy’s information management officer, died Oct. 21, 2012. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks,” said Ambassador David Jacobson. He said his relationship with Brock was especially close because he relied on him to tell him about the ins and outs of the Canadian political scene, the last federal election and the relationships with the provinces. “My relationship with Sam was very close,” he said. “He was really one of the very well respected people at the State Department and we were lucky to have him.” The ambassador described his colleague, who was from Virginia, as an experienced diplomat who joined the State Department in 1983 and served for 29 years. He had postings in Seoul, Praia, Algiers, Mexico City, Cotonou, Marseille, Kinshasa and Ott­awa. He also had tours in Washington as director of North American affairs at the National Security Council, four tours in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, including as interim director of the Office of UN Political Affairs and as director of the Office of UNESCO Affairs. He was also assigned to the U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States. Brock and his wife Odile had four daughters and three grandchildren. In addition to being a family man — all of his daughters were in Ottawa when he died — he was a talented piano player. That’s how the ambassador will remember him. “Sam was a really good piano player and at the embassy Christmas parties at my house, he was the guy who would play the carols, while the rest of the team would gather ’round and sing.” Brock, in fact, had gigs outside of office parties. He was a pianist and organist at numerous concerts in Washington and overseas and accompanied vocalists, instrumentalists and choral groups. He even recorded a CD of spirituals with Natalie Carter, a Washington-area contralto. After being diagnosed, Bricker had gone back to Washington to convalesce. Bricker, Jacobson said, was in charge of all the technology at the embassy. “Michael was the guy who was in charge of all the technology, not just for us but across Canada. He was the guy who, every time I would break something, which is frequent, they’d send the boss to me. He was invariably the guy who would hold my hand and show me how to undo the problems that I’d created,” Jacob­son said. Bricker served 22 years with the State Department’s information management division. He had postings in Warsaw, Monrovia, Seoul, Kingston, New York, London, Vienna, and Ottawa. He was a frequent contributor to the Foreign Service Journal and a lifelong champion of people with disabilities, particularly children. During his tour in Seoul, he spent hours visiting an orphanage for disabled and abandoned children, “bringing them the gift of laughter and love,” his death notice from the embassy ­stated. Bricker and his wife Shereen had one daughter. “Even in Canada, where we fit in so well with the community, it is like a family here,” Jacobson said. “And to have two people pass away who were so well thought of, within a couple of days of each other, has been difficult thing for everybody.” Those wishing to remember Bricker may send donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or the American Lung Association. For Brock, the family suggested donations to Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (http://www.ccfa.org). Brock’s memorial took place last weekend while Bricker’s will take place at a later date.