From Jocelyn Seagrave, his daughter:
Sterling Seagrave, a well-known author who wrote books about Myanmar, China and Southeast Asia, passed away May 1, 2017, in France, where he had been living for more than 30 years. His wife of 35 years, Peggy Sawyer Seagrave, had passed away the year before. He was a bestselling author, a captivating storyteller, and a complex human being. He made an indelible impression on all who knew him.
Sterling was born in 1937, the son of Dr. Gordon Seagrave, a missionary doctor known as the “Burma Surgeon,” and Marion Morse. Both sides of the family had a long tradition of missionary work in Burma, and Sterling grew up there on the China-Burma border with his siblings, Gordon, Jr., Leslie, John, and Weston.
Sterling eventually went to high school in the U.S. and became a journalist, working as a columnist for the Bangkok World, the St. Petersburg Times, and the Washington Post, in addition to writing for countless other publications. He went on to write a dozen books, including the bestselling The Soong Dynasty, a biography of the family that shaped modern China.
He wanted minimal ceremony to commemorate his passing, but donations in his honor can be made to the Free Burma Rangers, an organization run by a family friend, which provides education, training and medical services to oppressed people in Thailand, Burma, Sudan and Kurdistan: www.freeburmarangers.org. His family said his ashes would be scattered in Burma.
For more information, contact his daughter Jocelyn Seagrave at [email protected]