Robie Marcus Hooker "Mark" Palmer (14 July 1941 – 28 January 2013) was a United States diplomat, who served as United States Ambassador to Hungary (1986–90). He was a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Committee on the Present Danger, Vice Chairman of Freedom House and the Council for a Community of Democracies. He was also the co-founder of the National Endowment for Democracy.Palmer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and received a B.A. from Yale University in 1963.Palmer served in policy positions in the United States State Department in the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush administrations, including launching the National Endowment for Democracy. From the outside, he has worked with both the Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations, helping persuade them to initiate new democracy policies, including the Community of Democracies and abolishing the so-called "Arab exception", for the first time promoting democracy in the Arab world. Wikipedia