Jean R. Warnke, 80, Was Active in Volunteer Work

Jean R. Warnke, 80, a District of Columbia resident and widow of Ambassador Paul C. Warnke, who was active in volunteer, civic, cultural and charitable groups, died July 21 in a hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was a seasonal resident of West Chop.

Mrs. Warnke, who had cancer, had been undergoing medical treatment in Brooklyn since May.

She was a past president and member of the board of both Family & Child Services of Washington and the women's committee of the Smithsonian Institution. She also served on the boards of the Children's Convalescent Home, the Southeast Neighborhood House, the Black Student Fund and the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic organization.

She had been a mediator with D.C. Superior Court since 1987, and a member of the D.C. Bar's board of professional responsibility since 1990. She also was a reading tutor with the Kingsbury Center from 1975 to 1978, and was active in the volunteer tutor program with Operation Rescue from 1980 to 1992.

Mrs. Warnke, who came to Washington in 1948, was born in Ossining, N.Y. She attended Smith and Radcliffe colleges and Columbia University and was a 1973 history graduate of American University. She was a past president of the Smith College Club.

Her husband of 53 years, the noted lawyer and arms negotiator, died in 2001. Survivors include three sons, Thomas, of Long Beach, Calif., and Stephen and Benjamin, both of Brooklyn; two daughters, Margaret Warnke of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Georgia Warnke of South Pasadena, Calif.; a brother, George Rowe Jr. of Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., and Wellfleet, and 11 grandchildren.