In Memoriam: Professor Albert Santoli

“People will never forget that you were there for them when they were in need, and not only when it was easy to be needed.”
– Al Santoli

IWP mourns the loss of Albert Santoli, a longtime professor and director of the Center for Culture and Freedom at IWP.

Prof. Santoli was the president and founder of Asia America Initiative (AAI), a nonprofit that strives to develop communities affected by poverty, natural disasters, and armed conflict. From mediation with guerrillas in the mountains of Mindanao to funding cancer treatment and education for the children in the Philippines, to organizing school-based nutrition and clean water for rural schools, to conducting relief missions for typhoon victims, Prof. Santoli’s tireless work at AAI has touched so many lives.

In 2013, Prof. Santoli was awarded the Order of the Golden Heart (Orden ng Gintong Puso) by Philippine President Benigno Aquino for creating “peace zones” in the most dangerous area of Southeast Asia.

At IWP, Prof. Santoli taught courses on Counter-Terror through Full Spectrum Cultural Engagement; Cultural Intelligence for Strategy and Analysis; and Peace, Strategy and Conflict Resolution. His courses reflected IWP’s full-spectrum approach to international challenges and the school’s emphasis on “Winning Without War.”

Professor Santoli’s association with IWP dates back to the mid-1990s. His expertise was exceedingly broad. During the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, he developed serious knowledge of that country. While working in Congress, he paid close attention to the rise of Communist China and its “gray zone,” “asymmetric,” and “hybrid” warfare against its neighbors and the United States. He wrote the preface to the seminal book of modern Communist Chinese strategy, Unrestricted Warfare, written by two senior colonels in Communist China’s armed forces. The book remains arguably the most prominent book in the literature about the many forms of warfare the Chinese Communist Party has been conducting for several decades.

Through the Center for Culture and Freedom, a collaboration between Asia America Initiative and IWP, Prof. Santoli brought field experience from AAI to IWP classrooms, allowing students to understand real programs that have had remarkable success in building peace and preventing anti-American and anti-Western radicalization through people-to-people interaction, mutual understanding, and humanitarian assistance.

Prof. Santoli’s professional skills were rooted in his background as a teenage combat-experienced soldier in conventional infantry and reconnaissance-intelligence units. He was a U.S. military veteran of the Vietnam War with three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valor. He was a graduate of Naropa University in Colorado, where he studied world cultures through world religions and the arts.

Prof. Santoli was a New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of Everything We Had (Random House, 1981). He authored many other books and monographs on historical subjects. He was chosen by the family of Samuel Clemens as a member of the Mark Twain Society, and he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and for the American Book Awards. He was also a Contributing Editor for PARADE Magazine.

Prof. Santoli served as a foreign policy and national security advisor in the United States House of Representatives for Chairmen of the International Relations and Armed Services Committees. For 30 years, he was a humanitarian relief specialist and human rights volunteer: a Senior Fellow at Freedom House, a consultant on refugee protection at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and on the Advisory Board of the White House Commission on Remembrance.

During the Iraq War, he trained U.S. Marine Corps officers in cultural awareness at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College at Quantico, Virginia. He is a lifetime member of Disabled American Veterans.

IWP Founder, President Emeritus, and Chancellor, Dr. John Lenczowski, said of Professor Santoli: “Al was an extraordinary human being, scholar, practitioner, and strategist. He had purity of motive and was nobly and humbly dedicated to a cause higher than himself. He was a warrior in defense of the United States and the cause of freedom. He was a Good Samaritan. He was a peacemaker. His understanding of the strategic importance of public diplomacy, and its elements such as cultural diplomacy, medical diplomacy, and foreign assistance, was unsurpassed. Al’s work in the poverty-stricken Muslim islands of the southern Philippines was one of the most successful radicalization prevention programs run by anyone in the United States. Every island and village in that region which he touched brought utter failure to Al Qaeda’s attempts to recruit new jihadists. It will be a very difficult challenge to replace a man who came as close to being indispensable as anyone I have known.”

Prof. Santoli will be deeply missed by the IWP community. We hope that the lessons he taught our students about cultural engagement, citizen diplomacy, and socio-economic development as peacebuilding tools will live on in the work of our students and alumni.

May he rest in peace.

Thoughts from IWP Alumni

“One of the things I admired most about Al Santoli was his strong Catholic faith, which fueled his passion to serve others—even when it meant putting himself in danger. He loved people so deeply and genuinely. It was an honor to know him, and I will always treasure our conversations about faith, politics, and the good works he was doing. He will be deeply missed.”

– Mallorie Marino (’10)

“Prof. Santoli’s classes changed my life, helping me realize that my dream was to work on humanitarian assistance, ultimately leading me to a career at USAID. He was a compassionate humanitarian who embodied the very best of humanity. I feel so fortunate to have been able to learn from him. The world was better for having had him in it, and I know his legacy and the important work he began through the Asia America Initiative will live on through the countless lives he touched and inspired. May he rest in peace.”

– Jessica FitzSimmons (’15)

“Al Santoli was more than just a professor and a mentor. In his own humble way, he shared his past experiences as a combat veteran in Vietnam, recovering from his various wounds, and how that forever impacted his health and life.

“But few truly realized how this somewhat unassuming, perpetually jovial, award-winning author was also an unsung, often unrecognized, and crucially unconventional element of global counterterrorism efforts.

“From southern Thailand to pre-9/11 Afghanistan to the southern Philippines and many other places in between, Al made finding common ground between disparate communities, and even enemies, into an art form that will be complicated at best to reproduce.

“He achieved all of this from a home office, without a staff of thousands, by leveraging a simple, humble premise:

“Don’t assume you understand the perspective and needs of other cultures and societies. Rather, show a genuine interest in learning from those groups who they are and let them share with you – when they are ready – what they need.

“In this day and age of biases and opinions, Al thoroughly enjoyed sharing not only his cultural insights but also teaching his methodology to overcome the blinders we accidentally put on ourselves and to find connection with those around us.

“It may be easy to describe on paper, but we should all strive to earnestly practice this ethos and celebrate Al’s achievements when we do so.”

– Schuyler Merritt (’15)

“Prof. Santoli consistently went above and beyond to help IWP students and introduced them to concepts of peacekeeping and national security that they might not have received anywhere else. His nonprofit, the Asia America Initiative, helped children in the Philippines to learn and create a future for themselves. I was privileged to have the opportunity to be his student at IWP and to work with him at AAI. His care and compassion for others were continually evident. I’ll miss him.”

– Ann-Elise Quinn (’15)

“Professor Santoli was a man with one of the biggest hearts I have ever encountered and a genuine desire to educate, listen, and understand. He welcomed international perspectives with remarkable openness and always made me feel that my questions, experiences, and research mattered. He was generous with his time, thoughtful in his guidance, and always willing to help me with my research.

“What I will remember most is not only his extraordinary knowledge, but his humanity. Professor Santoli understood that education was about more than what could be taught in a classroom—it was about listening to people, understanding different cultures and perspectives, and finding ways to serve others. His decades of humanitarian work, particularly through the Asia America Initiative, are a testament to that commitment and deserve enormous recognition.

“He will be deeply missed by his students, colleagues, and all those whose lives he touched. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from him, and I will carry his kindness, generosity, and commitment to helping others with me. His legacy will continue through the students he inspired and the countless people he helped throughout his life.”

– Inna Vladimirovna Osetrova (’26)