Asia Society Mourns Passing of President Emeritus Robert B. Oxnam, 1942-2024

Asia Society mourns the passing of Dr. Robert Bromley Oxnam, an internationally recognized China scholar and author, who served as president of the organization from 1981-1992, leading it through a period of rapid and significant growth. Oxnam was beloved by staff across the global organization, who remember him for his brilliance, charisma, and warmth.

Oxnam’s early tenure as president coincided with the Asia Society’s move to its present headquarters at 725 Park Avenue in New York. While growing the organization’s programming to include corporate, contemporary, and cultural programming touching over 30 Asian countries, Oxnam also laid the groundwork for the opening of the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, its first location in Asia, in 1990.

Before he was appointed as president, Oxnam served as Asia Society's Vice President and Washington D.C. Center Director (1979–81). He started the institution’s first contemporary affairs department to focus on policy issues. He was also the first Director of the China Council (1975–81), playing an instrumental role in creating public education about China following Nixon’s inaugural visit and before normalization. Oxnam also began serious engagement with business leaders in Asia—bringing together Asian and American business and political leaders, via conferences in the region, long before such projects became common occurrence.

Oxnam lectured widely on China, and his expertise was sought by prominent Americans seeking in-depth knowledge of the country such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and former President George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush. He has been a senior advisor to the Atlanta-based Society of International Business Fellows and often accompanied their business leaders to various parts of Asia. He was also briefly a special correspondent for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour hosting an acclaimed nine-part special on China.

Oxnam was the author of several non-fiction works on Asia, as well as two novels and a memoir. He had taught at Trinity College, Columbia University, and Williams College. He was a visiting professor at Beijing University and a global scholar at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. In recent years, he embarked on an artistic career making weathered wood sculptures in the tradition of Chinese scholars rocks.

Oxnam received his Bachelor’s Degree at Williams College, and his Master’s and Ph.D. at Yale.

In 2012, Asia Society established the Desai-Oxnam Innovation Fund to celebrate the nearly 40 years of combined service to the organization of Oxnam and Dr. Vishakha Desai, his wife, who served as Asia Society’s President from 2004-2012.

Asia Society joins the many who admired this extraordinary gentleman and remains thankful for his incredible contributions to exchange, impact, and our global institution. 

In the video below from 2016, Robert Oxnam reflects on Asia Society's six decades of history.