Longtime patron of Virginia equestrian activities, John Chapman "Chips' Chester died peacefully at home July 9, 2010.

Born and raised in Milwaukee and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, he was eighty years young.

Having lived a fascinating life of government and military service, he was a devoted equestrian, rode in the Fairfax Hunt and recently sponsored Surefire Farm Eventing's Jan Byyny.

Chips Chester attended Milwaukee Country Day School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Princeton University and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he majored in German and English literature, participated in Theatre Intime and the Triangle Club and was unanimously voted "Most Unconscious Member" by his senior class.

He enlisted in the Army in 1953, was set to deploy to Korea when the war ended and was reassigned to occupied Germany to oversee war crimes prisoners.

In 1956 he married Clara Paige Mills of Chevy Chase, Maryland and his career in the Foreign Service took him to stations in Germany, Yugoslavia and Malawi. He was recognized with an award for "Heroic Services" from the Malawi government.

When he moved to Capitol Hill in 1970, Chester worked for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives serving under, among others, Peter Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), and Dante Fascell (D-FL). He served as staff facilitator of numerous House and Senate inter-parliamentary conferences wit Europe, Mexico and Canada and traveled on Committee missions to Asia and Africa in the early 1970's evaluating Peace Corp operations, a subject on which he became a recognized expert.

After his retirement in 1987, he took horseback tours through many countries including Argentina, Latvia, Mongolia, New Zealand, South Africa and Iceland among others.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he is survived by siblings Marion Read and William Chester; by three children, John, Isabelle and Charles Chester; by seven grandchildren and four horses.

Donations in recognition of his life may be made to the International Crisis Group at www.crisisgroup.org, or Life Me Up! at www.lifemeup.org.