Author Archive | Ven Suresh

William Perry Stedman Jr., a retired Foreign Service officer and former U.S ambassador, died on March 25, 2018, at the age of 95. He lived in Bethesda, Maryland.

A native of Maryland, “Bill” Stedman received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1943, then served overseas as a commissioned U.S. Navy officer from 1943 to 1946. A year later, he earned his master’s degree from the School for Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Stedman entered the Foreign Service in 1947 and was posted to Buenos Aires as a consular officer. He was transferred to San José as an economic officer three years later. He served as a consular officer in Stuttgart from 1953 to 1956.

After a two-year assignment as an intelligence analyst at the Department of State, in 1958 he was seconded to the International Cooperation Administration, a U.S. Agency for International Development precursor. He worked as an assistant program officer in the ICA mission in Guatemala from 1959 to 1961. He was the financial officer in Mexico City from 1961 to 1963. At State from 1963 to 1966, he served as the Guatemala desk officer and later as the deputy director of the Office of Regional Economic Policy in the former Bureau of Inter-American Affairs. In 1966, Mr. Stedman was assigned to Lima as counselor for economic affairs and deputy director of the USAID mission. He returned to the State in 1968 to direct the Office of Ecuadorian and Peruvian Affairs. May 2018. Two years later, he became director of the Office of Andean-Pacific Affairs. He was detailed to the first Senior Seminar for the 1970-1971 academic year. He served as the director of the Office of Argentine-Paraguayan/Uruguayan Affairs from 1971 to 1973. In 1973, President Nixon nominated Mr. Stedman to be the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia. He served in La Paz until 1977, when he was appointed as a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs. He retired several years later.

Ambassador Stedman accepted an offer to be the Senior Policy Advisor of the Fellowship in the International Development Program of Partners of the Americas. He established and led the interagency Senior Seminar Alumni Association and the Ford Latin American Group, both of which met regularly at DACOR Bacon House. He was twice elected to the Board of Governors and was a member of the Finance and Budget Committee. Ambassador Stedman was awarded the Foreign Service Cup, “

Ambassador Stedman leaves his children, Diana Stedman Donaldson, James Boardman Stedman and Lawrence Christopher Stedman, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Janet A. Stedman, died several years earlier.

Juan José (Pepe) Buttari (79) died in his home on April 30, 2018 after a year long battle with brain cancer. Mr. Buttari was born on November 22, 1938 in Havana, Cuba to Juan José and Luz Buttari.

Juan was an indefatigable fighter for the freedom of his beloved country, Cuba.

Since his adolescent years, he suffered incarceration on several occasions; first, fighting against a dictatorship and then fighting against the existing communist regime in Cuba. Juan arrived in the United States on December 17, 1960. A few months later, he participated in the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. He remained in prison for almost two years.

Upon returning to the United States, Juan decided to continue his studies without neglecting his endeavors for Cuba’s freedom. He obtained his Doctorate in Economics at Georgetown University. He fell in love with the area and made Virginia his home state.

Juan worked as an economist for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for thirty years, frequently traveling abroad to several countries in South and Central America, Africa, and Asia. After retirement, he worked as a consultant for many years and continued traveling to different countries. At the same time, he was proudly involved with a group of retired economists, serving as chairperson.

Juan’s favorite leisure activities were reading and playing tennis. He was an excellent tennis player, which he played up until two weeks before his brain surgery.

Juan has always been a man of strong and firm moral convictions. He always looked after his family and his friends; always ready to lend a helping hand to whoever needed it.

Juan is survived by his wife Heidy, son John, daughter Heidy McCarthy (Brian) and grandchildren Liam, Amelia, and Jack. He is also survived by his sister Lilia, niece Lili, and nephew Luis (Vanessa). He will always be loved and remembered by his family and friends.

John A. Hoskins, a retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, died on December 28, 2017, at the age of 88. He was born in Ohio.

He was awarded his bachelor’s degree in 1951 by Dartmouth College, after which he saw combat in Korea from 1951 to 1953 as a commissioned U.S. Marine officer. He earned his law degree from Ohio State University in 1957. From 1957 to 1961, he practiced law in the private and public sectors. He received his master’s degree in international relations from The George Washington University in 1969.

In 1961, Mr. Hoskins joined USAID. In 1962, he was posted to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) as the legal advisor to the USAID mission. He was transferred to Bangkok in 1965 as a regional legal advisor. He was detailed to the former National War College for the 1967-1968 academic year. In Washington from 1968 to 1973, he was assistant general counsel for legislative affairs and housing guaranties. He was appointed assistant general counsel for Africa in June 2018 and was subsequently assigned to USAID missions in Burkina Faso and Mauritania and to the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York as a development advisor. After he retired, Mr. Hoskins joined the U.N. Development Program and was posted to Uganda, Rwanda, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

He was married to the former Marilyn Wakeland.

The early morning of Sunday June 3rd, 2018, Dennis Patrick Barrett – residing in Apex, NC, passed away at the age of 81 after a long and valiant struggle with an insidious pulmonary ailment.

Dennis was born on July 21st, 1936 in St. Paul, MN to George T. and Helen Barrett (nee Roan); the youngest of two older siblings – Timothy and Mary Ann. A Native American Tlingit Indian by heritage, Dennis was raised on various Navajo Reservations across the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, and New Mexico. He attended Catholic schools across these reservations, eventually joining the Franciscan Order, with an early passion and calling to pursue Priesthood. He is fondly remembered by his dear friend Father Dennet Jung, who Dennis was fortunate to have by his side as he departed this world. He was an avid sportsman, with keen interest and passion for baseball – developing near professional-level skills by the time he started his college years. Dennis graduated from the University of Portland (B.A., 1959) and the University of Southern California (M.P.A., 1966). He received his honorary Ph.D. from University of Portland in 1996. Prior to starting his diplomatic career, he also served in the United States Army.

Dennis would fondly recall all the interesting, and sometimes dangerous, short-term jobs he held while putting himself through school – from deftly (and to the surprise of the owner, profitably) manning a hot-dog stand at the local baseball stadium, to pulling in heavy nets and cages on a rickety boat in brutally-cold Alaskan sea; no job was too small or dangerous to get in the way of achieving his goals. This tenacity served him well when he made his way to Washington, DC, where he made several hundred copies of his resume and flooded the mailboxes at the Department of State. His determination was rewarded with a call, pleading with him to stop clogging the internal mail at the State – and kindly come in for an interview; and rest, as they say, is history. Dennis, in service of his beloved country since 1960, served in some of the most difficult regions of the world – ensuring that United States’ aid to deserving countries was spent appropriately, and accounted for. Dennis succeeded in germinating, or nurturing, democracies in countries like Pakistan, Nigeria, South Korea, Philippines, South Africa, and Madagascar. When necessary, he adroitly shifted his ‘soft-touch’ diplomacy to a resolute stance – achieving results demanded by the American citizens. Dennis considered effectuating the breakup of South African Apartheid, and playing a seminal role in the release of Nelson Mandela as one of his crowning diplomatic achievements. Another of Dennis’ major achievements was his invitation to, and subsequent establishment of, the United States Peace Corp offices in Madagascar.

Dennis, a consummate Career Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development – USAID and United States Department of State, concluded his long and distinguished career serving American interest and values across the developing world as the Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary for the Democratic Republic of Madagascar.

Dennis, over the course of his service with the USAID and the State, received numerous awards from the U.S. Government and Governments of Nigeria, South Africa, and the Philippines. He was also awarded the Order of National Commander by the Government of Madagascar, which was the first time this Order had ever been conferred on a foreigner.

Dennis married the love of his life, Rosemary (Rosie) Barrett (nee Sumner), on December 22nd, 1988 in South Africa – who, until his final breath, remained vigilant by his side.

In an interview with the Portland Magazine, published by his Alma Mater, Dennis noted that “… I like to believe that we never lost faith in the fundamental goodness of people and their hope for freedom.” In many ways, these words serve as the coda for Dennis’ resplendent life.

Douglas Joseph Bennet Jr. (June 23, 1938 – June 10, 2018) was an American political official and college president. He was the fifteenth president of Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut, from 1995 to 2007. Before that, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs in the Clinton Administration (1993–95) and Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs in the Carter administration (1977–79), was the President and CEO of National Public Radio (1983–93), and ran the U.S. Agency for International Development under President Carter (1979–81).

Born in Orange, New Jersey, to Douglas Joseph Bennet, Sr. and Phoebe Benedict Bennet, Bennet grew up in Lyme, Connecticut, and attended the local public schools. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in 1959, an M.A. in history from the University of California, Berkeley in 1960, and a doctorate in history from Harvard University in 1968.

He was an assistant to Ambassador Chester Bowles in the 1960s. In 1970, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic primary for Connecticut’s 2nd congressional district, which was vacated by the death of Congressman William St. Onge.

He later served on the staffs of Missouri Senator Thomas F. Eagleton, Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, and Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff. In 1977, Bennet became United States Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.

Bennet succeeded John J. Gilligan as the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development in 1979, where he served for two years. After heading a private research institute, he was named head of NPR in 1983.[2] In 1993, President Bill Clinton named Bennet as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, where he served until 1995.

In April 1995, Bennet succeeded William Chace, becoming the fifteenth president of Wesleyan University. Bennet developed Wesleyan’s first comprehensive strategic plan, “Strategy for Wesleyan,” adopted in 1998. He renewed the institution’s strategic vision, in 2005, with a new plan, “Engaged with the World.” The “Strategy for Wesleyan” defined key institutional priorities: an expansion of the faculty in order to extend scholarship and teaching in new and interdisciplinary areas; a reaffirmation of the University’s commitment to need-blind admission; and a program of campus renewal. “Engaged with the World” included further and continuing curricular innovations and renewed commitments to science and international studies.

A history-making $281 million fundraising campaign supported these priorities and enabled Wesleyan to create 140 new scholarships, add 20 new faculty positions and six endowed professorships, and embark on more than $200 million in renovation and construction projects on campus. Bennet also sought better and increased collaboration with the city of Middletown. Under his guidance, Wesleyan participated actively in the city’s development efforts, which resulted in, among other things, a new hotel downtown and the Green Street Arts Center, “a community arts center meant to help revitalize the city’s North End.”

On May 4, 2006, Bennet announced that he would step down as president following the 2006-2007 academic year. The last several years of his twelve-year presidency were contentious in some respects, with opposition by a minority in the student body on certain matters. Some students believed Bennet’s fundraising priorities conflicted with the interests and needs of the student body, and the university’s mission of education. A student movement came to a head in December 2004, when approximately 250 students (of more than 2,700 undergraduates) protested in front of the administrative building South College, where Bennet’s office was located, demanding that he address student concerns. On March 26, 2007, Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees announced that Michael S. Roth would succeed Bennet as president for the 2007-2008 academic year.

On June 13, surrounded by family and friends, Elena Brineman passed away in Washington, DC from complications of metastasized breast cancer after a 22-year-long battle. She was a consummate foreign assistance professional, wonderful sister, caring aunt, a lover of beautiful things, a life-long learner with curiosity about everything, and had a practical and down-to-earth attitude about life.

Elena was born in Bogota, Colombia of American parents, Elena and Jack Brineman. The family had moved to Dallas, TX, Guatemala City, Guatemala and Calgary, Alberta, Canada by the time Elena was ready for college. Elena received her BA in Biology from Whitman College, Washington, and her Masters in Nutrition from Oregon State University at Corvallis.

She started her foreign assistance career in 1976 as a member of the research staff for the Nutrition Institute for Central America and Panama in Guatemala. In 1977-78 she also took on being Food and Nutrition Advisor, USAID/San Salvador, El Salvador. From 1979-81, she served in Washington, DC as Regional Food & Nutrition Adviser for the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), USAID, before returning to Guatemala from 1981-85 to serve as Regional Food and Nutrition Officer for Central America and Panama, USAID/ROCAP. She then served at ROCAP as Acting Deputy Mission Director before moving to DC to serve as Deputy Director for Technical Resources, Development Resources Office, LAC Bureau from 1989-92. Elena spent a year as a student at the National War College and then moved to Honduras where she spent seven years, first as USAID Deputy Mission Director and then as Mission Director. For her service in 1998 to the people of Honduras in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch she was awarded the highest honor given by the Honduran Government. In 2000 she became USAID Mission Director in the Dominican Republic. She was appointed to the Faculty of the Army War College in Carlisle, PA in 2006, and became Director of the Office of Military Affairs in Washington, DC, from which she retired in 2011. Her lifelong dedication to foreign assistance was level-headed, fact driven and balanced by her desire to leave people and places better than she found them.

She is remembered with love and respect by her sister, Anne Anderson; her nieces, Laurie and Kelley Anderson; nephews, Geoff Anderson, and Keeley and Chuck Brineman; and also by the loving family of Scott and Kathy Brineman, Tammy, Bob, Tina, and their children. She is also remembered by great-nephews, Evan and Alex, and great-nieces, Gia, Charlie and Perrin, as well as by friends around the world. A website has been established for friends and family to share memories at www.forevermissed.com/elena-l-brineman. The memorial service will be on August 11th, from 2-5 PM at the Josephine Butler Parks Center,2437 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009.  In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to one of the following organizations that were close to Elena’s heart: Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org), The Riverside Nature Center (www.riversidenaturecenter.org), or Project SHARE (www.projectsharepa.org).

Robert Dubinsky, who championed housing throughout the world and low-income housing in the United States, passed away on Tuesday June 20, 2018 in his adopted home of Washington, D. C., where he moved from St. Louis  in 1966.

Bob worked for many organizations in the United States and abroad, including The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Rand Corporation, USAID, Aspen Systems, Westat, and International City/County Managers Association. He concluded his career as Chairman of the International Housing Coalition in Washington, D. C. His overseas residential tours of duties were in Jamaica, Barbados and Israel and included numerous consulting assignments in Eastern Europe. Bob believed home ownership was an essential element of democracy.  He was awarded the Justin Herman Memorial Award by the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials for his work in international housing.

Bob attended John Burroughs School where he was Senior Class President and played tackle on the legendary varsity football teams of 1951 and 1952. He was a Bomber in true heart and soul and, in adult life, wore his JBS cap with pride every day.  At Harvard he was business manager for the famous Hasty Pudding Club. Bob lived a long, full and exemplary life, filled with joy and humor.

Bob was devoted to his wife Louise Gish Dubinsky, his two stepchildren, Margo Murray (Michael) and Stephen Weinress (Jaime). He loved his siblings, John Dubinsky and Linda Skrainka (deceased) and their spouses Yvette Drury Dubinsky and Stephen Skrainka, and he adored his six nephews and nieces, Anne Dubinsky Altman (Michael), Eleanor Dubinsky, Frank Dubinsky, Benjamin Skrainka, Sarah Skrainka, and Katherine Skrainka (Eric Stradal).   Bob also leaves four step grandchildren and two great nephews, Gibson and Burke Murray, Camden and Wesley Weinress, and Joey and Aaron Altman.  He had many devoted friends in St. Louis, Washington, D. C. and throughout the world.

Melvin L. Schuweiler passed away June 11, 2018. He led a distinguished career both in and out of public service. Born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin in 1921 to Louis P. Schuweiler and Suzanne Elizabeth Danielski Schuweiler, he married Mary Burke Babcock (whom he met when they were both students at the University of Wisconsin) in 1944 and she remained the love of his life until her death in 2008.

His college studies were interrupted by World War II where he served in the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division, earning a European Theater of Operations medal with three campaign stars, Purple Heart with one cluster, Silver Star for Gallantry in action, Bronze Star for Valor and Presidential Unit Citation Badge. He resumed college after the war, earning a B.S. in International Relations at American University.

Aside from forays into private business, he served most of his career as an economist with the Agency for International Development (A.I.D) at the State Department from 1968 until his retirement in 1982. After raising a family in Falls Church, Virginia, Mary and Mel retired to Reston, and then to Greensprings Retirement Community in Springfield, Virginia, before Mel spent his final days at the Willows at Meadows Branch Assisted Living in Winchester, Virginia.

He is survived by three children and four grandchildren, Mark Lewis Schuweiler (Jackie Mier) in Morgantown, West Virginia, father of Sarah E. Zinn and Kristen Alberts; Robert Charles Schuweiler (Virginia Pace Schuweiler) in Bunker Hill, West Virginia, father of Mary Beth Schuweiler; and Mary Suzanne “Zan” Schuweiler (Harry W. Boone), in Atlanta, Georgia, mother of Zoe Rose Daab. In addition, he is survived by six great grandchildren.

Mary Ann Cadwell Mudge, age 91, died Thursday, June 28, 2018 at Kendal in Hanover, NH. She lived a full life, blessed with family, friends and adventure. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 24, 1927 to the late Jim and Fern Cadwell and had one older brother, Don Cadwell. She moved early in life to Mora, Minnesota, where her father ran a Coast to Coast Hardware store and her mother was a teacher and gardener.She graduated from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota and taught high school history for two years before moving to Washington, D.C. to work for Senator Hubert H. Humphrey. It was in Washington, D.C. where she met her husband, the late Arthur Warren Mudge. They were married September 6, 1953 in Mora, Minnesota and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, so Arthur could attend Harvard Law School. While in Cambridge, their first daughter, Rebecca Ann Mudge was born. The young family then moved to Canterbury, NH, where they purchased a 1775 former country inn, which they lovingly restored. While in Canterbury, they had three more daughters, Susanna, Sarah Maria, and Kathryn Mary. In 1966, the family moved to Arlington, Virginia where Arthur worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 1969, the family moved to Panama, to be followed by moves to Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, Nicaragua, and Sudan. In 1979, Mary received her Master’s in Library Science from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. She later worked as the librarian at the Khartoum American School. After retiring from USAID, Mary and Art returned to NH, where they continued to restore old houses. Mary worked as a librarian at the Weathersfield School in Ascutney, Vermont and then with her nephew Randy Mudge at his architecture firm. In 2009 Mary and Art moved into Kendal at Hanover, which they enjoyed until the end of their respective lives. Mary is survived by her four daughters, son in law’s Raul Sanguinetti, Clarke Havener and Arturo Valenzuela, five grandchildren, Mariah, Noah, Ari, Ethan and Addy, sister- and brother-in law Nancy and Hugh Sycamore, and a wonderful extended family. She will always be remembered for her laugh, her love of learning, travel, day lilies, and her strong opinions. A celebration of her life will be held later this summer. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mary’s name can be made to the Circle Camp or Camp Onaway, both in New Hampshire.

On May 5, 2018 Stephen Fields Wallace, retired USAID Executive Officer, passed away in his home in Venice, Florida. He died of natural causes stemming from coronary and pulmonary disease.

Steve’s career with USAID, began as a foreign service Junior Officer Trainee (JOT) in 1966.  His career traversed both the Program Planning and the Administrative and Management backstops.  His first program assignment was to USAID Ethiopia (1967-68), followed by USAID Somali Republic (1969-1970).  Subsequently, he was posted to USAID Viet Nam as an Assistant Program Officer where he worked in the Program Office, the Education and Labor Division, and as a Special Assistant to the Chief of the Engineering and Capital Development Division (1970 to 1974).

Rotating back to AID/W, Steve was seconded to the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) where he served as a Counselor (1974-75).  Steve recalled this one year of service as being one of the most important in his career, namely advocating on behalf of Foreign Service officers and their families.  Subsequently, he served as the Assistant Desk Officer for Bangladesh (1975-1976) before applying to, and being accepted by, the Agency’s Administrative Management and Executive Development (AMED) program (1976), which led to his assignment to USAID Indonesia (1977 to 1979) as the Management Officer.  Steve’s next assignment was to AID/W’s Office of Personnel Management where he worked as a recruiter of International Development Interns, followed by service as the Management Officer for the Africa Bureau (1980 to 1983).  Following his AID/W rotation, Steve was posted to USAID Senegal as the Supervisory Executive Officer (1984 to 1989) and subsequently to REDSO West and Central Africa in Abidjan (1990 to 1995). His final assignment was as the Executive Officer in USAID Panama, 1996 to 2000.  Through his career as a USAID Executive Officer, Steve was frequently cited for his efforts to make management systems more efficient, customer friendly and less expensive.

Stephen Wallace was the son of Earl and Lucille Wallace and born in Kansas City, Missouri April 15, 1941.  He grew up in Topeka, Kansas and graduated from Washburn University with a B.A. in Political Science.  During his undergraduate years, he took a year of German studies and language at the University of Freiburg. He also served as a State Department Summer Intern in 1962.  During his school and university years Steve was an accomplished musician, a trombonist, who played in marching bands, symphony orchestras and jazz groups.  Steve continued his academic studies at the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver, earning a Master of Arts degree in political science and Latin American studies in 1966.

Steve chose Venice, Florida as his retirement place. He was involved in community and city politics and socially active in the Foreign Service retirement community.

All who knew Steve as a colleague and friend will recall his very distinctive and explosive laugh which accompanied a wicked sense of humor. Steve filled his retirement days with classical music and daily walks.  No matter his struggles with health issues, he always was in good humor and displayed a welcoming, mischievous, smile.  Steve was an anchor in the lives of many and will be sorely missed.

Steve is survived by his older brother Donald, his son Son Cong Tran, his daughters Ave Persaud-Wallace and Natalie Wallace, and his six grandchildren.