On Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 11:16:33 PM UTC-7, wazzzy wrote:
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801095.html
> John B. O'Loughlin, 74, a former customs official and trade
> consultant, died April 24 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in
> Rockville. The cause of his death is under investigation by the
> Maryland medical examiner's office.
> Mr. O'Loughlin, a Rockville resident who retired in 1994, was the U.S.
> Customs director of the office of laboratories and scientific
> services, which attempts to guarantee that imported products are what
> they claim to be.
> In 1989, when the division had 18 mobile labs and 150 chemists,
> metallurgists, electronics experts and textile designers, Mr.
> O'Loughlin told The Washington Post, "We have such oddball problems it
> usually makes people laugh. But the constituencies out there would
> surprise you with their vigor."
> Two years later, while serving as acting deputy assistant commissioner
> for commercial operations, he told a Senate committee that the
> department couldn't keep up with the collection of tariffs on goods
> dumped into the United States at below-market prices. Collections had
> risen from $37 million in 1984 to $275 million in 1991.
> He was born in Somerville, Mass., and grew up in the Dorchester
> section of Boston. He graduated from Boston College and served in the
> Marine Corps in Japan and Korea from 1953 to 1955.
> Mr. O'Loughlin began working for customs in 1959 in Boston and moved
> to the Washington area in 1964. He was the agency's first director of
> international operations and later led the duty assessment division
> while also serving as lead customs adviser to the U.S. trade
> representative during the negotiations in the Tokyo round of the
> General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
> In 1980, he was elected to serve as director of valuation of the
> Customs Cooperation Council in Brussels for five years. He returned to
> Washington after his term expired.
> After his retirement from government, Mr. O'Loughlin advised
> international clients on import and export issues.
> He was an usher at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Rockville and
> enjoyed world travel, including annual trips with his grandchildren to
> Disney World. He was a Boston Red Sox fan and in 1974 scored a hole-in-
> one on the third hole at Montgomery Country Club in Laytonsville.
> Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Paula O'Loughlin of Rockville;
> four children, Martin F. O'Loughlin of South Ogden, Utah, Susan
> O'Loughlin Ward of Vienna, Patricia A. O'Loughlin of Alexandria and
> John B. O'Loughlin of Brookeville; a sister; and five grandchildren.
RIP