My friend and mentor Mark Wheeler, who has died aged 74, was a great scholar of Yugoslavia. After a distinguished academic career, he became political adviser to Paddy Ashdown in his role as high representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina and was official historian of the Special Operations Executive in Yugoslavia, a secret British espionage group during the second world war, appointed by Margaret Thatcher.
Mark was born in Chicago, son of Earl Wheeler, a pilot in the US navy, and Barbara (nee Schmager), a window dresser. He attended Ramapo regional high school in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, and studied history at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1970. He arrived with fellowships and scholarships to do a PhD at Cambridge.
