Author Archive | Ven Suresh

Dave S. Cohn, 77, a retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, died on June 16 in Oakland, Calif., after a long illness.

A naturalized American, Mr. Cohn (formerly Paul David Cohn) was born on March 18, 1939, in Toronto, Canada, the second of three sons of Martin and Tmima Cohn. Martin was an executive in Jewish community work in Toronto and, after immigrating to the United States, in Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis and Cincinnati. Tmima, an attorney, was elected to the Toronto Board of Education, and much later served as chair of the Planning Commission of Volusia County, Fla.

From a young age, Mr. Cohn’s goal was to follow in his family’s tradition of helping to make the world a better place. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati and from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration in 1963, and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1965 to join the War on Poverty. There he served in several community programs before becoming a regional officer with Volunteers in Service to America. In 1973, he joined the San Francisco Regional Office of the Department of Health and Welfare. He also worked with the California State Department of Health before being offered his dream job with USAID in 1980.

Mr. Cohn served with USAID as a health and population officer from 1980 to 1999. He distinguished himself as the first USAIDHIV/AIDS officer, posted to Uganda from 1987 to 1991. The HIV/AIDS education and prevention program he developed for and with the participation of Ugandans from the military, industry, entertainment and all walks of society, was for many years the gold standard in Africa. In addition to Uganda, Mr. Cohn served as health officer in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Peru. On domestic tours, he was country officer for Bosnia and Mongolia. He helped avert widespread suffering in Ulaanbaatar one brutal winter by facilitating emergency coal blasting to keep the city’s central furnace operating. Aside from his family, Mr. Cohn’s greatest love was cars—some classic, some junkers, some high-end. At one point he owned two Lincoln Continentals and a Cadillac—none of them operational; at other times he owned BMWs and Porsches. During his lifetime, he owned more than a total of 70 cars. He was proud to have driven solo from Lima to Patagonia and fromLima to Iguazu Falls, and later enjoyed road trips with his wife, Alice.

Mr. Cohn was predeceased by his parents and his older brother, Alan. He is survived by his wife, Alice Beasley of Oakland; daughters Professor Deborah Cohn Sauer (and her husband, Peter) of Bloomington, Ind., and Dr. Tamara Cohn Krimm (and her husband, Charles) of Wasilla, Alaska; their mother (his former wife and State Department retiree) Irene Cohn, of San Francisco; his younger brother, John; a niece, Leslie Cohn; and grandsons Noah, Benjamin and Daniel Cohn Sauer, who continue his love affair with anything on four wheels.

Manuel “Manny” Marroquin, 72, a former Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, died on Jan. 3, 2016, after a long illness.

Mr. Marroquin, who joined USAID in 2000, served in Bolivia, Botswana, Haiti and Washington, D.C. After several months as a development leadership intern, Mr. Marroquin served as an acquisition and assistance officer for six years, until his retirement in 2006.

From August 2006 to May 2010, as an international assistance adviser to the State Department, Mr. Marroquin provided consulting and assistance in developing the Central America Free Trade Agreement. During 2010, as a management officer in State’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau, he provided emergency assistance in Port-au-Prince to Haiti’s law enforcement programs, police academy, drug enforcement, prisons and displaced persons camps following the country’s worst earthquake. In 2011, Mr. Marroquin served as management officer, contracts and grants officer and management adviser to the State Department in Jerusalem.

A former resident of Mission Viejo, Calif., Mr. Marroquin had moved recently to Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. Friends and family members recall his love of life and his devotion to this family and his faith. Mr. Marroquin is survived by his wife, Marlene (née Vreeland); his children, Dina (Meslovich) and Joseph; a brother, Frank, and sister, Lupe (Chirat); and grandchildren Annie, Amanda, Kristin and Josie.

On October 29, 2016, Edward Anthony Dragon passed away peacefully in Reston, VA. Edward was born in Pawtucket, RI on October 27, 1928. He attended Grove Street Grammar School and East Senior High School in Pawtucket and graduated summa cum laude from Providence College in 1950. He obtained a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1954, and in 1957 a postgraduate law degree majoring in International Law and Trade.

As a young lawyer, he worked as an advance man during John F. Kennedy’s campaign for president in 1960. Following Kennedy’s election, he served as a consultant to the Executive Office of the President. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library holds a written interview with Edward describing his work as well as his long and prestigious legal career with United States Agency for International Development. During his 33-year career with the USAID (1963 to 1995), he served in Washington, DC and at American Embassies in Kenya, Senegal and Jamaica as Regional Legal Advisor. He traveled extensively throughout his life.

After retiring from USAID, he was appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for membership to the Foreign Service Grievance Board. For 12 years he served as Deputy Chairman, retiring in 2008.

Edward was a very modest person. He was always ready to welcome a newcomer and to help a colleague with the wide breadth of his legal knowledge. He was kind, humble, gracious and always a gentleman. His deeply held Catholic faith gave him great purpose in life and hope for the future. He will be sorely missed by many. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Catherine Dragon, Arlington, VA; daughter Linell M. Joyce (Bill), Herndon, VA; granddaughters, Susie E. Joyce, Reston, VA and Annie J. Powell (Kevin), Potomac Falls, VA; three great-grandchildren; a brother, Joseph (Carol), Coventry, RI and many other extended family. A sister, Frances Gryzb, and a brother, Stanley, predeceased him.

John Anthony Daly, 79, of Rockville, died peacefully at his home on November 21, 2016, of Multiple System Atrophy. He leaves behind his devoted wife of 50 years, Patricia Cross Daly, a loving son, John Patrick Daly, and relatives in Ireland, Australia, and England.

The son of Anthony C. Daly and Ethel Braunton Daly, John was born in New York. The family later moved to California, where John was raised and educated, earning a B.S. in Engineering, M.S. in Electrical Engineering, and Ph.D. in Administration from the University of California. After an early career as a research engineer, John left engineering to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile, and then remained in Chile as a consultant to the Ford Foundation. He later worked for three years in Colombia for the World Health Organization on community health projects.

On returning to the U.S., John joined the Office of International Health (U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare) and later the U.S. Agency for International Development. John worked at USAID for almost two decades in various capacities, including a year spent at the Carter White House working on health and hunger issues, and a period as Director of USAID’s Office of Research. John was interested professionally in research and development programs, and the impact of information and communications technology on development. At USAID he worked on issues of technology and science for developing countries for more than a decade, most frequently on programs global in scope. He managed both research and grants programs, as well as science and technology assessments in developing countries. After retiring from USAID, he was for several years a freelance consultant on science, technology and development for various organizations, including the World Bank, where he participated in the design of development projects such as the World Bank’s Millennium Science Project in Uganda.

John traveled extensively and worked in 35 countries before finally retiring after 50 years of professional work. In the years since, John devoted considerable time to supporting UNESCO, creating and maintaining websites for various organizations, blogging, and participating in a history book club. John taught at several universities throughout his career and is a published author of chapters in books, journal articles, magazine articles and reviews, and online articles.

Ellen Maria Dragotto of Washington, DC, slipped away peacefully on Thanksgiving Day. She was the loving daughter of the late Nicholas and Eleanor Dragotto. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on December 3, 1960, she was a graduate of Scranton Preparatory School, the University of Scranton and George Washington University.

She started her career in international development with the U.S. Environmental Training Institute in Washington, DC in 1994. In 2001, she joined the U.S. Agency for International Development. She dedicated her life to help improving the lives of the less fortunate.

She is urvived by one sister, Ann Marie Weer, Goldsboro, Maryland and three brothers, Francis Dragotto, Princeton, West Virginia, Edward Dragotto, Peckville, Pennsylvania and James Dragotto, Archbald, Pennsylvania, seven nieces, two great-nephews and three god children. She was preceded in death by her nephew and godson, Anthony Dragotto.

Curtis Farrar, 89, who retired about 15 years ago as director of finance and administration at the International Food Policy Research Institute, died Nov. 22 at his home in Washington. The cause was congestive heart failure, said a son, Douglas Farrar.

Dr. Farrar was born in New York City and had lived in the Washington area since 1963. He joined the institute in the mid-1990s after having been a World Bank agricultural research officer, a member of the State Department planning staff, a technical assistance specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development and an officer of the Asia Foundation.

Janet Allem passed away late Friday night, December 9, 2016 in the presence of her family, after a tough battle with cancer. Janet is survived by her loving daughter, Melia Allem of Arlington, VA; her mother, Rubye Connatser of Arlington, VA; her father and step-mother Johnny and Barbara Allem of Washington, DC; her brother and sister-in-law, John and Kathy Allem of Fairfax, VA’ and by her adoring niece and nephew, Katiana and Jacob Allem of Fairfax, VA.

Janet earned a BS Degree from Barnard College in New York, and a Masters Degree from George Washington University. She was a brilliant and accomplished woman who made life-long friendships wherever she went. She retired from the US Agency for International Development after a long and distinguished career.

On Sunday, December 11, 2016 Mattaniah Eytan of Mill Valley, CA and formerly of Washington, DC passed away. Born in Tel Aviv in 1934 to the late Benjamin and Molly Epstein, he came to the US as a child, studied at the Ramaz Day School in New York, graduated from Columbia Universi ty, the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Zurich. Inspired by his Zionist upbringing, he changed his last name to Eytan (“strength”) as a young man.

He was Assistant General Counsel at the State Department – Agency for International Development 1964 to 1971 and then a partner in the DC law firm of Kaplan, Russin & Vecchi. In 1976, he moved to San Francisco to head the firm’s CA office and in 1981 he successfully argued a case before the US Supreme Court. He subsequently founded his own law practice in the Bay area and diligently represented his many clients over the past two decades.

A man of many interests, he had a keen and insightful mind and was passionate about the law, politics, art, history and Israel. Funeral and interment took place December 14, 2016 in the Gan Yarok section of Fernwood Cemetery, Mill Valley, CA.

Charles Billand, 76, an urban planner who since 1996 was president and managing partner of TCG International, died Dec. 6 at his home in Lovettsville, Va. The cause was cancer, said a daughter, Michelle Painter.

Mr. Billand was born in Detroit. He came to the Washington area in 1974 as deputy director of the Redevelopment and Housing Authority of Fairfax County. Over the next two decades, he held a variety of jobs related to planning and development, including a stint in New Delhi from 1990 to 1995 with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Thomas Darrell Verner (age 98) passed away on Saturday, December 10, 2016, in Bethesda, MD after a brief illness. Oldest son of the late Tom and Gracie Verner, Darrell is survived by his wife of 67 years, Jerry; son, Douglas (Diane) of Maryland; daughter, Cheryl McCarthy (Michael) of South Carolina; grandchildren, Taylor Casey (Peter), Alexandra Harrison (Matthew), Thomas McCarthy (Rebecca) and Austin Verner; four great-grandchildren; brother, Afton of Texas and sister, Carolyn Brent of Texas.

Darrell Verner served as USAID Controller (before the Chief Financial Officer position was established) throughout the 1970s.  It is believed that he retired from USAID in the early 1980s.  Darrell was very active in the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) during its earliest days, bringing together financial professionals from across government.