BORN Marcus Jacob Austad (name changed to Mark Evans Austad in 1940’s). April 1, 1917, Ogden, Utah. Parents Jacob L. and Signa Anderson Austad.

MARRIED Lola Brown, Ogden. August 20, 1942

CHILDREN Nancy (Mrs. David Roth), Penny (Mrs. James Davis), and Wendy (Mrs. John Dufree).

For most young men, 1941 was not a good year to embark upon a private venture. For Mark Evans Austad, however, it was the birthdate of a long and successful career that led him around the world and to the highest level of international diplomacy. Austad began his first job in broadcasting in 1941 at Salt Lake City’s KSL radio station. Conscription for military Service abruptly terminated his employment the following year, but that disruption of his private life proved beneficial to his professional advancement.

Plagued by an earlier knee injury, Private Austad was sent to Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C. While convalescing following surgery on his knee, he was assigned to the staff of the hospital’s public address system- “radio” station WRGH. Among his responsibilities was that of moderating a weekly program featuring prominent Washington personalities such as First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Washington’s broadcasting community gave Austad’s work at WRGH its appreciative attention, and by the end of 1942 he was asked to work part-time at the radio station WWDC. Immediately upon his discharge from military service in 1945, Austad accepted a full-time position with WWDC. Two years later, he moved to the CBS radio and television station WTOP as the new moderator for “Sunrise Salute”; a morning program formerly hosted by Arthur Godfrey. For Austad, it was the beginning of a twenty year affiliation with the Columbia Broadcasting System in the nation’s capital.

Austad’s work at WTOP continued until 1960 when he took a position with television station WTTG where he became Vice President of Public Affairs for the Metropolitan Broadcasting Company, or Metromedia, Inc, as it is known today. He served in that post until 1975. All the while, however, he continued to work as moderator and anchorman on such programs as Panorama Potomac, Opinion in the Capital, Face to Face, and his own, The Mark Evans Show.

In addition to his work as a moderator, Austad was involved in the production of numerous television documentaries and traveled throughout the world to conduct interviews with newsmakers of the day. Among his films were, From San Paulo to Machu Pichu, Through Belgium by Helicopter, Africa and Algiers, The U.S.S.R., and Around the World in 90 Minutes. Perhaps his most remarkable documentary was The Light That Shines From Lambarene, a film based on his visit with Dr. Albert Schweitzer during the winter of 1960-1961.

Austad’s extensive travels and his abilities as an orator placed him in great demand as a lecturer. He spoke before hundreds of civic and service organizations, at universities, and at conventions throughout the country. The National Geographic Society invited his to address its members on eight different occasions and in 1971 he served as the key note speaker for the Aircade of the United States Chamber of Commerce. During the Aricade’s sixteen day tour, Austad spoke in fourteen different cities.

Austad’s experience and expertise garnered the respect of many Washington notables and a number of prestigious appointments. He served on the inaugural committee of Presidents Nixon (1969 and 1973) and Reagan (1981); was a delegate to the 28th General Assembly of the United Nations in 1973; and in 1974 was chosen to serve as the District of Columbia’s Bicentennial Commission Chairman. In that same year, he was honored with the appointment of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Finland. In that capacity, he joined other U.S. and European chiefs of state as a delegate to the Helsinki Conference on Security and Economic Cooperation in Europe.

When Ambassador Austad completed his term in office in 1977, he became the first U.S. diplomat to receive The White Rose and Order of the Lion, the Finnish government’s highest honorary award. In 1981, his own country recognized the merits of his diplomatic services with a new appointment as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Norway.