Oct. 13, 1932 — Dec. 14, 2014

NATCHEZ — Memorial services for William Catherwood Fletcher, 82, Natchez, who died Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, will be at a later date under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Mr. Fletcher was born Oct. 13, 1932, in Oakland.

Mr. Fletcher resided in Burma; California; Washington; Japan; Ohio; New Jersey; Switzerland; Kansas and most recently, Natchez.

He attended Riverside Polytechnic High School, UCLA, California Baptist Theological Seminary and finally earned his doctorate from the University of Southern California.

He was a naval veteran of the Korean War, where he served as an electronics technician first class on the USS Saipan.

He was founder, president and chief executive officer of Centre de Recherches et d’Etude in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1965-1970 and was director of Soviet and Eastern European Studies at the University of Kansas from 1970-1996.

He published 12 scholarly books, three dozen major articles and was the only scholar in his field to have been published by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Mr. Fletcher was preceded in death by his wife of more than 50 years, Diane.

Survivors include his children, Stephen Fletcher and wife, Mary, of Lawrence, Kan., Laurie Hall and husband, Tom, of Oceanside, Calif., and Linda Rodriguez and husband, Jack, of Natchez; one brother, the Rev. Stephen Fletcher and wife, Gloria Shane, of Glendale, Calif.

The family would like to thank Sharon Smitherman for her companionship and affection toward our father in the last few years of his life.

Online condolences may be made to lairdfh.com.