Husband, Father, Brother, Grandfather, Public Servant, Veteran.  Morgan Edward Clippinger, 89, passed away peacefully on 17 May 2021 at his home in Sterling, VA.

A Maryland native, Morgan was born in Baltimore City, Maryland in 1932, the height of the Great Depression. Morgan grew up in Baltimore, the eldest of 4 children of Lloyd and Jesse Clippinger. As a young boy, Morgan and his family moved to a farm in Baltimore County just before the outbreak of World War II.  This city boy became a country boy almost overnight. Unlike other boys in the neighborhood, Morgan cared little for sports, concentrating instead on music and playing the piano. Graduating from high school in 1949, Morgan enrolled for one year in Western Maryland College in Westminster, Maryland. His life changed forever in 1950 with the death of his father and the outbreak of the Korean War. Morgan subsequently enlisted in the US Air Force, hoping to see action in the Korean War. He was indeed sent to Korea, but in a non-combat role.

Morgan stayed in the Air Force after the war, and was able to finish college thanks to the GI Bill.  He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1957 and subsequently received his Masters degree. A scholar at heart, Morgan continued with his education and studied Korean at Columbia University from 1961-1962. Fascinated with Asia due to his Korean War service, Morgan in 1962 became the first Fulbright scholar in Korea, where he met his future wife, Chong Cha Pak, who he met while shopping in a college campus bookstore in Seoul, Korea. He and Chong Cha were married in 1963, a marriage that lasted for nearly 58 years. Morgan, meanwhile, was diligently learning to speak and write Korean, to the point of acquiring native-level proficiency. This was his second foreign language, as he was already fluent in Spanish.

He and Chong Cha had two sons, James and Michael, both born in Korea. During this time, Morgan worked as a civilian employee of the US Department of the Army, assigned to the the Korea Detachment, 7th U.S. Army PSYOP Group specializing in psychological operations to assist Korean forces fighting in the Vietnam War. Morgan and his family eventually moved to the US, and Morgan received his next big break—he was hired by the CIA in 1972 as a specialist in Korean issues. For the next 25 years, Morgan developed a reputation as one of the premier experts on Korean affairs in the US government, for which he travelled the world, counseled world leaders, and provided high-impact analysis on Korean issues. .

A consummate scholar and researcher, Morgan was typically seen in his office reading Korean language newspapers and books, searching for additional insights into current events. Not content with only knowing Korean and Spanish, Morgan also developed near-native proficiency in reading and speaking Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, while also "dabbling" in Indonesian and Vietnamese. Truly gifted with languages, he effortlessly conducted meetings with Japanese and Korean officials in their native language.

Morgan, meanwhile continued with his other passion, music. An amateur composer, Morgan played the piano with gusto, typically relaxing at the end of his busy workdays by happily playing Gershwin songs on the piano, accompanied by a glass of Scotch on the Rocks, or a Gin Martini. After retiring from the Agency, Morgan focused on scholarly research, and was particularly intrigued by linguistic origins, and did detailed research on the linkages between the Korean language and Dravidian.

Morgan is survived by his wife of 57 years, Chong Cha, a son and daughter-in-law, James and Katrina, of Sterling VA, another son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Lisa, of Leesburg VA,  and 6 grandchildren. He is also survived by his two sisters, Fran and Sandy.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research https://www.michaeljfox.org/