Ching Room 250 E Street SW Washington DC

In 1973, FMCS Director Bill Usery dedicated the main FMCS conference room, in the old Department of Labor building at Constitution and 14^th Street NW, to Cyrus Ching. The photo above shows Usery with Ching’s widow looking at the painting of Cyrus Ching during a dedication ceremony establishing the Cyrus Ching conference room.

In his dedication remarks, Usery noted how appropriate the naming of the conference room was since Ching had been the first FMCS Director. Usery also said he hoped that wherever the FMCS National Office might move in the future, there would always be a conference room dedicated to Mr. Ching.

At the first location after leaving the old Department of Labor building, FMCS Director James Scearse responded to Usery’s hope by designating the main conference room as the Cy Ching conference room. At that location at 21^st and K NW. the FMCS National Office remained from 1976 to late 2016.

Since late 2016, the FMCS national office has been at 250 E St SW, Independence Square, and Director Allison Beck followed the practice by designating the main conference room as the Cyrus Ching conference room.

In the Spring of 1964 during Jerry Barrett’s orientation to FMCS, he attended a lunch with other new mediators at the historic Occidental Restaurant, where the Cuban missile crisis had been resolved a few years earlier, just one block from the White House. While the enjoyment of visiting that historic restaurant was great, it didn’t compare with the guest at the table. Cyrus Ching regaled the group with his humor and wit throughout the entire meal. His best story came at the end of the meal when he began filling his pipe with tobacco. As he did that, he said:

“Notice how long this process with my pipe can take.” Then he held it high so everyone could see it clearly, and said: “My pipe is a wonderful mediation tool because it can take as much time as I wish to fill it, light it, relight it, or clean it. When I do that in a mediation session, with all eyes on my pipe and me, there is a long pregnant period of awkward silence, and very often it will be eventually filled by the voice of a nervous bargainer expressing unintended but useful information.”
In the first photo, Cy Ching is shaking hands with new mediator Bill Rose as he give him his official credentials.

In the second photo, Director Bill Simkin is handing an honorary plaque to Cy Ching, while Mrs. Ching looks on during the of 20th anniversary of FMCS in 1967.