Remembering David I. Steinberg

The Asia Foundation is saddened to announce the passing of David I. Steinberg, who died on December 5, 2024, at the age of 96. For 18 years of his long and distinguished career, David represented The Asia Foundation in New York, Burma, Hong Kong, Korea (twice) and opened the foundation’s Washington office in 1968.

David was a prolific writer on the political economies of both Korea and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), as well as on economic development in Asia. He was the author of 15 books and monographs and more than 150 articles or volume chapters on these subjects.  His last edited book, Myanmar: The Dynamics of an Evolving Polity, was published in 2015. Earlier volumes included Modern China-Myanmar Relations: Dilemmas of Mutual Independence (with Hongwei Fan, 2012), Turmoil in Burma: Contested Legitimacies in Myanmar (2006), Stone Mirror: Reflections on Contemporary Korea (2003), and Burma: The State of Myanmar (2001).

David was a world-renowned specialist on both Korea and Myanmar and regarded as one of the few specialists on contemporary Burmese political economy. 

After serving in the Senior Foreign Service at the United States Agency for International Development, David became president of the Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs. He later joined Georgetown University, where he was a Distinguished Professor of Korean Studies and later director of Asian Studies. He also lectured as a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of International Studies in Washington.

David’s career spanned the academic, public, and nonprofit sectors. He lectured extensively, both in America and globally, viewing his activities as an attempt to bridge gaps in Asian policy among the three fields. Although a specialist in political economies, David never neglected culture and its importance in policies. He largely took an independent approach to foreign policy, which separated him from official positions of many governments.  

Long after David’s last position as country representative in Korea in the 1990s, David worked as a consultant to The Asia Foundation, where he was instrumental in enabling the foundation to reopen an office in Myanmar after a 51-year absence. Sadly, because of the military coup in February 2021, The Asia Foundation had to close its doors in the country. David was saddened by this development.  He knew democracy would not come to Myanmar’s people easily and that there might be setbacks.

David Steinberg epitomized what it is to be “a gentleman and a scholar.”  David was kind, thoughtful, generous, and encouraging to all. He was an important and generous mentor to many staff at The Asia Foundation, both in their Asia Foundation careers and broader professional lives in development. He will be missed. 

Our condolences go to David’s family, especially his wife of 60 years, Ann Myongsook Lee, a retired professor of music at George Washington University, his two sons, Alexander Lee Steinberg of Minneapolis and Eric David Steinberg, who cared for his father and mother so lovingly for the past four years, and Alexander’s children Anya and Ari.