Born in 1933
World citizen card: 19853
Died July 20, 2011

Biography

 Served as president or chairperson of several peace-related organizations over a 40-year period. This includes the Association of World Citizens, which is 30-year old international organization with NGO status at the United Nations.

Author of over 200 published articles on peace-related issues. Main author of two disarmament resolutions signed by 51 Nobel Laureates and accepted by the United Nations Disarmament Department. Main author of the 2001 Taipei Peace Declaration signed by over 400,000 people and presented to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Chairperson of nine peace conferences or commissions held in San Francisco, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Osaka, Taipei, and at the United Nations NGO conference. Hosted over 300-radio shows broadcast over Radio for Peace International.

Traveled widely on peace-related activities, including six Citizen Diplomacy trips to the Soviet Union in the 1980s as a speaker on the Volga Peace Cruises. Initiated the joint U.S./USSR nuclear disarmament demonstration and rally held in 1983 in Moscow’s Gorky Park.

Wrote and presented World Citizen Awards to former United Nations Assistant-Secretary-General Robert Muller, The Reverend Jesse Jackson, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown Jr., and Colonel Stanislav Petrov that has resulted in a movie being made of his life that is entitled: “The Man Who Saved the World.” The movie will be released to movie theaters around September 2007.

During this same period worked full-time as a senior engineer/manager in commercial Silicon Valley corporations, with the longest period at Apple Computer. Main activity was designing, equipping, and managing failure analysis/technology assessment laboratories. Specialized in transmission and scanning electron microscopy and won several scientific photography prizes, including a national scientific convention first prize photograph that was exhibited in the New York Museum of Modern Art for three months.

Recipient of the Albert Einstein Peace Award from the International Association of Educators for World Peace, the Lifetime Achievement Peace Award from the Federation of World Peace and Love, and several other peace awards.

Married 40 yeas. Education at San Jose City College, San Jose State University, and Stanford University.

Birth Place: Creede, CO USA

Declaration of intention

Douglas Mattern A longtime resident of Palo Alto, passed away July 20 after a long illness. He was 78 and is survived by his beloved wife, Noemi. After serving 4 years in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Mattern attended San Jose City College, San Jose State University, and Stanford University, where he worked, audited classes, and learned his profession as an engineer in material science. He became an expert in Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy. In 1980, he was hired by Data General Corporation and later by Apple Computer to design, build and manage fully staffed Failure Analysis Labs that were considered by many engineers as the best in Silicon Valley. He retired in the year 2000. His hobbies included mountain hiking/climbing, sports, and astronomy/cosmology. Mr. Mattern was known for scores of letters published in The Palo Alto Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and The New York Times. In addition, he had 200 articles published in magazines on peace-related issues. In 1975, he co-founded and became President of the Association of World Citizens (AWC). AWC organized major peace conferences in San Francisco, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York City, and Taipei, becoming an international peace organization gaining official NGO (Non-Government Organization) status with the United Nations. In the 1980s Mr. Mattern was invited to be a speaker for the U.S. delegation on Citizen Diplomacy trips to the Soviet Union. On these and other trips, there were many interesting stories, most of which are detailed in his book, Looking for Square Two. Mr. Mattern received several awards, including the Albert Einstein Peace Award from the International Association of Educators for World Peace, and the Lifetime Achievement Award for World Peace from the Federation of World Peace and Love. Truly a learned, compassionate citizen, not only of his community but of the world, he leaves an indelible mark on those who were privileged to know and share his life.

Published in San Francisco Chronicle on August 5, 2011