Author: webmaster (Page 1 of 4)
If you think the war in Iran is critical to America’s national interests, think also about Taiwan. The Economist has called the Taiwan Strait “the most dangerous place on earth.” Its judgement was based not only on the intense volatility in the region — a volatility underscored by China’s increasingly assertive military posture in and around the Taiwan Strait — but also on Taiwan’s immense importance to the global economy. Taiwan has the 22nd largest GDP in the world, manufactures 90% of cutting-edge semi-conductors, has 50% of the world’s container traffic passing through the Taiwan Straits and lies perilously close to the center of China’s powerful economy (the distance to the Chinese mainland is about the same as the distance between Darien and Hartford). The war in Iran might be a precursor to what could happen due to China’s intentions regarding Taiwan.
Mike Chinoy is an Emmy-winning American journalist who will be speaking to us live from Taipei, Taiwan, where he lives. He will address the prospects for China’s increasingly muscular efforts to take over Taiwan. He has reported on many of the most important geopolitical events in Asia since the mid-1970s, including the death of Mao Zedong, the rise of China, the Hong Kong handover and developments in Taiwan, Thailand, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, North Korea and elsewhere.
Mr. Chinoy is one of the most informed and sharpest thinkers in geopolitical risk between China and Taiwan. He spent 24 years serving as a foreign correspondent for CNN, including being the first bureau chief in Beijing, from where he reported live during the Tiananmen Square crisis. He also worked for CBS and NBC in Hong Kong. In addition to receiving an Emmy Award for reporting on Tiananmen Square, he received a Peabody Award, a Dupont Award, and an ACE Award, which are among the most prestigious awards in journalism. His critically acclaimed reporting during those weeks has been credited with strengthening CNN as an authoritative force in international news coverage.
He has also covered North Korea extensively, traveling there 17 times since 1989. In 1994, he became the only journalist invited to accompany President Jimmy Carter on his historic trip to Pyongyang and was the first journalist ever to file live TV reports from North Korea.
Mr. Chinoy is a consulting editor of the Taiwan Strait Risk Report, a monthly newsletter that quantifies fast-moving geopolitical risk on the Taiwan Strait amid China’s challenge to regional stability and rapidly evolving political dynamics in the United States. He is also a nonresident scholar at the 21st Century China Center, part of UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. Previously, he also spent 15 years as a nonresident senior fellow at the U.S.-China Institute of the University of Southern California. From 2006-2009, he was a senior fellow at the Los Angeles-based Pacific Council on International Policy, focusing on security issues in China, North Korea and Northeast Asia.
He is the author of six books:
- China Live: People Power and the Television Revolution;
- Meltdown, the Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis, which was hailed by the Washington Post as a “tour de force of reporting;”
- The Last POW;
- Are You With Me? Kevin Boyle and the Rise of the Human Rights Movement, described by former CBS News Anchor Dan Rather as “a terrific biography told by a world-class journalist;”
- Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People’s Republic, described by former PBS Anchor Judy Woodruff as “riveting reading for anyone who wants to understand China or cares about how great reporters do their work” and
- the forthcoming Miss Kathi: Saving Lives in North Korea, co-authored with Kathi Zellweger and described by former CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan as “an unrivaled account of heartbreak and heroism in the world’s least understood nation, North Korea.”
He graduated cum laude from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chinese studies and has a Master of Science degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He lives in Taipei, Taiwan.
Arranged by David Fitzpatrick
Peter Louis Anker (born May 14, 1935) passed away at his home in Darien on February 23, surrounded by family. As his name suggests, Peter was a strong and sturdy support for all who knew him. For his family, he was a warm, loving and supportive rock on which multiple generations grew and prospered. Professionally, his wise counsel and advice in the metals and mining industry helped build one of America’s premier investment banks.
A woodworker all his life, he knew the importance of a sturdy base and strong connections. Like the best cabinet makers, he made joints to give a piece of furniture or cabinet beauty and function and joined its parts for life. With family, friends and colleagues, his wisdom, decency, and humor were the mortices that held them together.
He was born into an extended Jewish family in Konigsberg, Germany, in 1935. He and his parents Dorothea and Hans were forced to flee their home and family in 1939 for safety in England first and then to the United States in 1940. He grew up in Springfield, Ill., where he, his parents and his sister Carole Jean built a new life.
Peter graduated from Springfield High School in 1953 and was one of very few members of his high school class to come East for college, attending Columbia University in New York City and graduating in 1957. While at Columbia, he studied English literature, skied in Canada and Vermont and stood to see all the great Broadway musicals.
He never lost his love for reading, theater, and New England, filling his bookshelves and Kindle, attending performances at and supporting Encores and the Goodspeed Opera House, and skiing and vacationing at his home in Vermont. Music and the arts were also constant throughout his life — classical music and the Great American Songbook always played in his house, car, and workshop. Following in the footsteps of his father, who helped found the Springfield (now Illinois) Symphony, Peter was an active board member of the Stamford Symphony (now Lumos) in Connecticut
He received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. He served in the United States Air Force on active duty between college and graduate school and in the reserves in France after being called up during the Berlin Wall crisis. He had a long and successful Wall Street career as a securities analyst in the metals industry, including at Smith Barney and First Boston, ultimately retiring as director of equity research at First Boston, before unretiring multiple times.
But Peter was much more than his impressive resume. His greatest achievements and joy were his family — his two sons, Philip, of Keston, England, and Kent of Pleasantville, N.Y., their wives Elizabeth and Patty, and his grandchildren Samuel, Lucy, G and Roan. He was a constant loving presence providing advice, encouragement and wisdom with distance never being an obstacle, regularly providing typed letters and phone calls. His home was a center of celebration, wine and chocolate (which he could not live without). He was a devoted brother to his sister Carole Jean Sternstein and her husband Jerry and uncle to his nephew Matthew Sternstein, his niece Alexis Schwartz, and their families.
His great love was his wife Billie. Married for 33 years and best friends for years before that, they built a life together of family, joy, laughter, food and travel, and were constant companions. He became a beloved stepfather, grandfather and great-grandfather to Billie’s four children, John, Chris, Tom and Karen, who brought them 11 grandchildren and their ever-growing number of great-grandchildren (now at seven). He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, great-children and his sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew.
Craig Marlow Ferguson, 88, a lifelong Darien resident, died peacefully on March 28, 2026, from complications related to Parkinson’s Disease. He was surrounded by his wife Linda and three children.
Born in Stamford on September 15, 1937, to James and Jessie Ferguson, Craig was the youngest of three sons. He was predeceased by his parents and his older brothers Bruce Lyons Ferguson and Thomas Donaldson Ferguson, his foster brother Peter Bodick, his nephew Bruce Wayne Ferguson and his nephew’s wife Barbara Ferguson. Craig attended Stamford schools and graduated from Darien High School in 1955 and Colgate University in 1959. Craig began his insurance career with Childs & Wood in Chicago and New York before starting Craig M. Ferguson & Company in the early 1970s in New York. He was known among his clients and employees as an excellent problem solver and a generous and caring business owner. Craig and Linda raised their children in Darien.
Craig had a lot of hobbies and interests. He was an exceptional cook and loved nothing more than cooking at family holidays and gatherings, presenting guests with traditional English dishes. Favorites included standing rib roast, popovers and butter tarts. Craig was also an accomplished pianist and organist, self-taught as a youngster. He learned to play the pipe organ in his youth by dropping by St. John’s Episcopal Church in Stamford after school and learning on the church organ. A real highlight was playing the organ at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He managed the organ keyboards, pedalboard and stops with ease well into his 70s. Craig loved the natural world and backpacking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with his children. He was a rosarian and could often be found tending to his 70 roses. It was a rare weekend that Craig wasn’t on his tractor buzzing around his property. He also enjoyed playing squash and backgammon, skiing and reading spy novels. He was a Lionel Train enthusiast who spent many years spent time perfecting his O-gauge layout, which was western-themed with rustic scenery, steam locomotives, bridges and rugged terrain spanning an entire room in his basement. A new level was achieved the day he broke through a cement interior basement wall so that the train could have a proper tunnel. The “train room” was an enchanting place for the many children who visited.
Craig was an active volunteer for most of his adult life. He volunteered at his alma mater, Colgate, in many capacities over the years and was awarded a Maroon Citation, an honor recognizing his record of service. Craig also served as chairman of the board of Miss Hall’s School in Lenox, Mass. He served on the board of Wee Burn Country Club. He was on the vestry at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Stamford, involved in the 1980s Canterbury Green project, which continues to benefit the church and the St. John’s Community Foundation. Craig also served on Darien’s Zoning Board of Appeals. He was a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Wee Burn Country Club, and Lake Sunapee Yacht Club.
Craig was, above all, a family man. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Linda Stiles Ferguson, and his three children, Anne Foster (Dave), Bruce Ferguson (Pam) and Lynne Somerville (Scott), all of Darien. Also surviving are his nine grandchildren Elizabeth, Wells, Ellen, Katharine, Bruce, Peter, Doug, Andrew and Mimi and two sisters-in-law Barbara and Joanne Ferguson, as well as many nieces and nephews and their children. Some of Craig’s happiest times were spent sharing family time at his beloved Lake Sunapee before a roaring fire or sitting on the deck surrounded by laughter and love. In Craig’s passing, his family has lost a most remarkable and loved patriarch. His life will be celebrated at a memorial service at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday April 9 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1864 Boston Post Road, Darien.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Craig’s memory to Colgate University, PO Box 313, Canajoharie, NY 13317-0313. Donations will be directed to the Jessie Ferguson Endowed Scholarship Fund, created by Craig in honor of his mother.
The family wishes to thank Craig’s caregivers, Joseph, Gina, Diane, Maria, and Debbie.