Author Archive | Ven Suresh

Jerry Lipson, a former reporter who worked for a decade and a half as an aide to Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, died Feb. 28 at a skilled nursing facility in Springfield, Va. He was 81. The cause was complications from cancer, said his son, Jonathan C. Lipson.

Gerald Lipson was born in Chicago on Aug. 27, 1935. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Roosevelt University in Chicago in 1957 and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in 1961.

In the 1960s, Mr. Lipson reported for publications including the Wilmington News Journal in Delaware, the old Washington Star and the old Chicago Daily News, where he covered the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the legal case of James Earl Ray, who assassinated civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

In the early 1970s, Mr. Lipson embarked on a career on Capitol Hill. He was press secretary for Sen. Charles H. Percy (R-Ill.) and Rep. John B. Anderson (R-Ill.), according to his son, as well as for Rep. John J. Rhodes (R-Ariz.) during his tenure as House minority leader and for the House International Relations Committee under Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.).

In the 1980s, Mr. Lipson returned to journalism, reporting for the New York Post and the Chicago Sun-Times. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, he was spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Mr. Lipson was a delegate to the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit and campaign manager for Maryland state delegate Constance A. Morella (R) when she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. His memberships included the Washington Press Club.

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, the former Lois Zittler of Alexandria, Va.; two children, Jonathan C. Lipson of Philadelphia and Greg Lipson of Sykesville, Md.; a sister; and four grandchildren.

Fred J. Bieganski, a former Foreign Service officer with USAID, died on December 23, 2016, at the age of 89. He was a resident of Washington, D.C. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from London University in 1952.  He joined USAID in 1980 and was assigned to Cairo as an infrastructure development officer.  He returned to USAID headquarters in 1986 to work in its European department.  He retired in 1994. He leaves his niece and nephew Lisa Barton and Mark Bieganski of England. His wife Eugenie died several years ago.

Yvonne Thomas, widow of USAID officer Howard F. Thomas, died February 22, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1922, she was a singer, pianist, actress and dancer. She met her husband while he was an Army Intelligence Officer stationed at the American Embassy in Istanbul in 1947. She worked for the Department of State and in her retirement she served as a Senior Docent with the Folger Shakespeare Library. In addition to her husband; her sister Regine predeceased her.

Frank Kimball lost his three year battle with myelofibrosis on December 10. He died at home. Born in Albuquerque, NM, his Osage heritage was an influence and source of pride throughout his life. To the Osage, he is “Bald Eagle”.

He attended Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. He was captain of the football team the year Landon won the state championship. He graduated from St. George’s School in Newport, Rhode Island and went on to Yale University where he graduated with a B.A. in Economics.

He had an adventurous career in the Foreign Service, first being posted in Peru. He subsequently served as Mission Director for U.S.AID with posts in Honduras, Bolivia, Bangladesh and Egypt. After retiring from the Foreign Service he was an international consultant and acted as Executive Director of a Presidential Commission for President George H. W. Bush.

Frank loved golfing at Harbour Town and gardening at Heritage Farm where he
served as President for six years. Frank took great pride in the farm’s support of Deep Well. He leaves behind his wife of 43 years, Rosemary Kimball, his “Wild Rose” and his children Raymond, Rebecca, William, Russell, Mark and Blair Robbins who entered his life three years ago and gave him much love and happiness.

He will be remembered for his keen wit, sense of humor, intelligence, handsomeness and, perhaps, most importantly, humanity. Frank had a true joy of life and will be greatly missed. However, one never dies who lives in the hearts of those they leave behind.

Herb Morris passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday, March 27, 2017, after a long illness. He had been a resident of Washington, DC since 1957. He was born April 11, 1926, in New Haven, CT, the last child of Gertrude and Max Morris. He is survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Michele, (nee Rottiers); loving children, Valerie Gaine (David) of Owings Mills, MD and Donald of San Diego, CA; as well as his grand-daughters, Taylor and Paige Morris.

After graduating from New Haven High School, Herb served in the U.S. Army in Europe from 1944 to 1946. He earned his B.A. from Yale College (1950) and his LL.B from Yale Law School (1953). He clerked for U.S. District Judge J. Joseph Smith, was a Teaching Fellow at Stanford University Law School and devoted the rest of his career to government service as an attorney in the Departments of Justice, Civil Appellate Section, (1957 – 1963) and State, Agency for International Development, (1963 – 1996). Member of the Senior Executive Service since 1995, he retired as Deputy General Counsel of A.I.D.

He enjoyed reading, listening to classical music, playing tennis, following the Red Sox, and birding on four continents. He visited many parts of the world during his working years and in retirement.

Numerous family members and friends on both sides of the Atlantic will remember him as a true loyal and principled person, kind, caring, generous and often humorous. He was an excellent advocate, who could argue skillfully and passionately and yet always remained open-minded and fair.

His final resting place will be at Arlington National Cemetery and a memorial gathering will occur at that point, later this year.

Deane R. Hinton, a career diplomat who served as U.S. envoy to five nations, most notably El Salvador in the early 1980s, where he presided over an embassy protected by sandbag gun emplacements amid civil war, died March 28 at his home in Escazú, Costa Rica. He was 94.

The cause was kidney infection and failure, said a son-in-law, Eric Chenoweth.

Mr. Hinton joined the Foreign Service in 1946, ascended to the rank of career ambassador and became known, journalist Christopher Dickey once wrote in Newsweek magazine, as “America’s closest approximation to the Roman Empire’s troubleshooting proconsuls.”

Mr. Hinton held his first ambassadorship under President Gerald R. Ford, serving as representative to what was then Zaire, where President Mobutu Sese Seko expelled him for an alleged assassination conspiracy. “Total nonsense,” Mr. Hinton said. “If I’d been out to get him, he’d have been dead.”

President Ronald Reagan selected Mr. Hinton to serve as ambassador to Pakistan and Costa Rica. President George H.W. Bush sent him to Panama in 1990, shortly after the U.S. invasion that removed President Manuel Antonio Noriega from power.

Mr. Hinton drew widest notice during his tenure in El Salvador, where he served from 1981 to 1983, and where he succeeded Robert E. White. White, serving under President Jimmy Carter, had aggressively denounced killings carried out by the Salvadoran military and its supporters.

Mr. Hinton generally voiced support for Reagan’s policy of providing substantial economic and military assistance to the ruling junta in its fight against leftist guerrillas. But in 1982, speaking in Spanish before the U.S.-Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce in San Salvador, he delivered a rebuke of the Salvadoran government, condemning political killings and kidnappings that he described as associated with “some elements of the security forces.” He compared rightist “gorillas” to leftist guerrillas.

“Every day we receive new reports of disappearances under tragic circumstances,” he said, in remarks uncharacteristically outspoken for an ambassador. “American citizens in El Salvador have been among the murdered, among the ‘disappeared.’ Is it any wonder that much of the world is predisposed to believe the worst of a system which almost never brings to justice either those who perpetrate these acts or those who order them?”

He said that if the Salvadoran government did not improve on human rights — a condition for the U.S. aid that in 1982 amounted to more than $230 million — “the United States, in spite of our other interests, in spite of our commitment in the struggle against communism, could be forced to deny assistance to El Salvador.”

The speech was a bombshell in El Salvador, where the Chamber of Commerce and Industry declared the ambassador’s remarks “appropriate to a delegate of the Roman Empire before a conquered people.” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said publicly that Mr. Hinton’s “statements do represent United States policy,” but an unnamed administration official told the New York Times shortly after Mr. Hinton’s address that “the decibel level had risen higher than our policy has allowed in the past.”

Interviewed later by The Washington Post, Mr. Hinton acknowledged that his speech represented a departure from the “quiet diplomacy” advocated by Reagan. “But there is provision for exception,” he added. “I decided the time had come to go public.”

In January 1983, Reagan certified sufficient progress in human rights for El Salvador to continue receiving aid. “Any president or any administration that thinks it would be a disaster if this country was taken over by a totalitarian Marxist regime is going to hesitate a long time and the evidence would have to be very strong before he decides not to certify,” Mr. Hinton said.

By April 1983, Mr. Hinton said that he was “weary” of the job. The next month, the administration announced that Mr. Hinton would be replaced. The post eventually went to Thomas R. Pickering, later ambassador to nations including Israel and Russia. Mr. Hinton retired in 1994.

Deane Roesch Hinton was born in Missoula, Mont., on March 12, 1923. He received a bachelor’s degree in social studies and economics from the University of Chicago in 1943 and served in the Army Signal Corps in North Africa and Italy during World War II.

His Foreign Service appointments including postings in Syria, Kenya, France and Belgium. In Guatemala and Chile, he oversaw USAID programs. In between ambassadorships, he served as U.S. representative to the European Union and assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs. He was the author of a memoir, “Economics and Diplomacy” (2015).

His first marriage, to Angela Peyraud, ended in divorce. His second wife, Miren de Aretxabala, whom he married in 1971, died in 1979.

Paul Guedet, 78, was born and raised in Merced, California. Following high school, he served two years as a US Marine. Upon return, he earned a BA and an MBA from Chico State in California. He later obtained a second masters degree from MIT.

After a brief stint in the shipping industry, Paul spent 30 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development serving in Uganda, Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, and Botswana. Paul was known for his sharp analytical mind, his ability to cut through red tape and his commitment to his American and host country colleagues. He was an outstanding officer and representative of his country, rising to the rank of Senior Foreign Service. Paul retired from USAID in 1994.

Paul married the love of his life, Laurie Mailloux, also a Foreign Service Officer, in 1979. Paul and Laurie were totally devoted to one another all of their married lives. They retired to Vashon Island, WA in 1999.

Paul had a great sense of humor and enjoyed life to its fullest. Paul aimed for quality in everything he undertook, devoting the time and effort needed to achieve it. He boxed, skied, hunted, and played rugby and squash. In the era when hunting was legal, he hunted all the major game in Africa, later donating these trophies to the Burke Museum the University of Washington. In his career he won awards for his professionalism and productivity. His commitment to excellence did not abate in his 35-year struggle to lead a normal life despite his Parkinson’s disease. Paul’s courage, tenacity and refusal to complain as he faced this dreadful disease struck awe in all who knew him. Certainly nothing interfered with his commitment to being the best husband and friend to those he loved and who loved him.

Paul died at his home on Vashon Island April 16, 2017.

Donor M. Lion, a distinguished Career Minister in the Senior Foreign Service at the United States Agency for International Development, died peacefully in McLean, VA, with his wife by his side, on April 22, 2017, eleven days shy of his 93^rd birthday.

Donor will be remembered for his trademark bowtie and pipe, fierce intellect, dry sense of humor, and his kind, gentle, and loving ways. He was admired and respected by his colleagues, especially those whom he mentored over the years. However, the love of his family and their accomplishments were his greatest source of satisfaction, pride, and joy.

Donor was born on May 3, 1924 in New York City, the eldest of three sons. His parents gave him his unusual name because they wanted him to be a giver. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School, as President of the Senior Class. He earned his A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.A. from the University of Buffalo, all in economics. Donor’s first foray into the U.S. government’s foreign assistance program began in Oslo, Norway in 1952 where he helped to implement the Marshall Plan. Two years later, he joined the private sector as an economic consultant, spending three years at Robert R. Nathan Associates in Washington, DC and five years at Booz Allen Hamilton in Chicago. A former Marshall Plan colleague recruited him in 1962 to join the United States Agency for International Development. His parents’ hopes and dreams would be fulfilled.

Donor began his USAID career in Brazil in support of the Alliance for Progress, starting out in Rio de Janeiro for two years and then serving five years in Recife. He was the first person to hold dual roles as Director of USAID’s Northeast Brazil Mission and the U.S. Embassy’s Consul General. His mandate was to help develop Brazil’s most impoverished region by providing assistance in education, agriculture, health, and infrastructure. He returned to Washington, DC in 1971 to attend the year-long Senior Seminar, a coveted Department of State program whose participants were chosen because of their demonstrated potential for executive leadership positions in the government. Donor spent the next five years in several senior positions in Washington in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, ultimately rising to the top position of Acting Assistant Administrator. In 1977, he moved to Jamaica, again serving in a unique dual capacity as USAID Mission Director and the U.S. Embassy’s Economic Counselor. Here he concentrated on economic policy, health, family planning, education, and agriculture. Over the next ten years (1979 – 1989), he was the USAID Mission Director in Guyana, Pakistan, and Peru, with a year (1985 – 1986) in Washington as USAID’s Chief Economist. He retired from USAID in July 1989 after a distinguished career and numerous awards and accolades.

For the next five years, Donor did development consulting work both domestically and abroad with, for example, the Ministry of Finance in Hungary and the Ministry of Agriculture in the Dominican Republic.  He was an adjunct professor in the Economics Department at American University in Washington DC where he taught a popular seminar on Development Assistance. In 1994, Donor and the family moved to Bangkok where his wife, Linda, served as USAID Mission Director to Thailand. He enjoyed his numerous assignments with the United Nations Development Program, Thailand’s National Institute for Development Administration, and Thommasat University. He also contributed articles on development as a guest writer for the local newspaper.

Donor fully retired in 1996 and actively pursued his passions – vegetable gardening, tournament bridge, ping pong, golf, and gourmet cooking. He finally succeeded in getting his wife to retire from USAID in 2002 so that they could enjoy life together, spend time with their girls and their families, and take long trips to countries including Turkey, Vietnam, Russia, Eastern Europe, Ireland, Egypt, Jordan, and Canada.

Donor is survived by his wife and best friend of 39 years, Linda N. Lion nee Kranetz; daughters, Ann Lion (Marc Luoma), Kristin Lion Torres (Juan Pablo), and Karin Lion (Bonnie Levin); granddaughters, Sara Coleman Hernandez (Phil), Ali Coleman, and Mia Lion Torres; sisters-in-law, Barbara Kranetz Green and Jo Lechay Lion; nieces, Jaime Green Roberts (Jeff), Jenny Lion (Steven Matheson), and Angel Lion; and nephew, Jason Green (Tovah). He was preceded in death by his parents, David and Anna Holstein Lion; daughter, Amy Lion; brothers, Paul and Eugene Lion; and former wife, Elizabeth Kennedy Lion.

A private family burial will be held at King David Memorial Gardens in Falls Church, VA on May 3, 2017, Donor’s birthday. The burial will be followed by a Celebration of Life service at 11:00 am at National Funeral Home in Falls Church, VA, and a feijoada lunch to honor, remember, and celebrate Donor’s seven very gratifying years of service in Rio de Janiero and Recife, Brazil.

For those who have asked, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Donor’s name to the Louis August Jonas Foundation in New York. In 1930, the Foundation established and still operates Camp Rising Sun, an international leadership program for young adults where Donor spent four very meaningful summers.

On May 7, USAID alumna Charline Ann Reeves passed away. She was born on July 31, 1941, to Charles and Elizabeth Ensor Reeves. She grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she may have astonished her folks by working at the Highlander Center, a pioneering social justice institution, and attended the University of Tennessee, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

After graduation, Charline joined the Peace Corps, which sent her to Afghanistan. There she was assigned to work with staff at the Afghan national airline, Ariana (known locally as “Scariana”). In 1966, she went to Vietnam as a secretary with the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she spent four sometimes exciting years. She must have liked international development, because she made USAID her career for the next 30 years. Her work ethic, common sense, and honesty were so greatly valued by her supervisors and colleagues that she was sent to Syracuse University for a multi-month training program to convert from secretarial work to professional. Thereafter she was a prized member of the high-stress USAID budget office, with occasional work trips to Africa.

Charline retired in 2006. In 1984, she met the love of her life, Bradley Turner. They became devoted partners, and, in 2005, they married. Charline and Brad had a dozen splendid years together as husband and wife, until her death.

Charline is survived by her devoted husband Brad; her brothers Charles and James (Mary); her nephews Clay, Aaron, and Chip; and many, many friends. A memorial service will be held at Macedonia Baptist Church, 3412 22nd St. S, Arlington, VA, 22204, on Thursday, May 25, 2017, at noon.

Jerry Kieffer died March 22, 2017 at home surrounded by family and others who loved him. Born May 5, 1923, raised in Minneapolis, MN, he was the beloved husband (68 years) of Fran; father of Edith, Charles (Meg) and Philip (Claudia); grandfather of Aaron, Daniel, Alisa and Erika; great-grandfather of Caleb and Raymond.

After WWII Pacific service, he graduated from University of Minnesota (BA, PhD). His lifetime of public service included Executive Director, National Cultural Center (Kennedy Center) and positions in the Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations, including Asst. Admin. AID and Deputy Commissioner, Social Security Administration. During his time in USAID in the early 1970s, he was Director of the Office of International Training and then Assistant Administrator for Population and Humanitarian Assistance.  He also served as Board Chair, Senior Employment Resources, President, Fairfax Alliance for Human Services, and Board member of the Fairfax Symphony.

He loved telling stories and wrote books and articles on government organization, productive aging and public transportation. He and Fran shared their love of family, friends, community, music, reading and nature.