Recent Tributes
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Elinor Bingham Bachrach
Elinor Bingham Bachrach died March 3, 2026, at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC at the age of 81.
Elinor was born in Boston, MA on August 2, 1944, daughter of the late Louis Bachrach, M.D., and Anne Jameson Bachrach. She was raised in Brunswick, ME, graduated from Brunswick High School (1961), and received a BA from Pembroke College (1965) and an MA from the University of Chicago (1971).
Majoring in political science, Elinor had a long career in public policy both nationally (at local, state, and national levels) and internationally (with the IMF and USAID). Among the highlights of her career were: six years on the Senate Banking Committee (and especially the New York City Loan Guarantee Act and the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act); ten years as Deputy Comptroller for New York City; and fifteen years as a senior advisor (primarily for USAID) in Ukraine and Moldova, Indonesia, Serbia and Montenegro, Afghanistan, and Iraq, where she focused on strengthening fiscal institutions, reforming regulatory systems, and supporting local governance.
Elinor is survived by her three brothers: Peter Bachrach (Susan), George Bachrach (Christine), and David Arthur Bachrach (Sheila); her nephews Peter A. Bachrach, Thomas Bachrach (Whitney), and Benjamin Bachrach; her niece Anne Bachrach; and her grand-nieces Katharine Bachrach and Lillian Bachrach.
Though Elinor traveled widely and lived abroad for extended periods, she remained devoted to Maine and spent summers at the family cottage on Mere Point over the last fifteen years. Private services will be held there at a later date.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Civil Liberties Foundation.
Received from George Bachrach 3/9/2026
Alan Sokolski
Alan Sokolski of Silver Spring, Maryland, passed away on March 3, 2026, at age 93. He was predeceased by his wife of nearly 60 years, Carol Stitt Sokolski (2016), and their younger daughter, Lauren Sokolski (2020). He is survived by his elder daughter, Lynn Sokolski; her spouse, Bentley R. Noland; and his granddaughter, Samantha Noland.
A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Mechanical Engineering (’52; BME ’53), he earned an MBA and PhD in economics from Columbia University (’59; ’62). He served as an Air Force officer, retiring from the Reserve in 1983 as a colonel, and completed military studies at the National War College.
Dr. Sokolski spent many years in federal service, including roles with the Federal Reserve, the Agency of International Development in Lagos, Nigeria, the State Department, CIA, and National Reconnaissance Office. At the CIA, he rose to senior leadership and chaired the Intelligence Community’s Foreign Denial and Deception Analysis Committee. He received numerous honors, including the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.
Burial will take place at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Doctors Without Borders, the Natural Resources Defense Council, or the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Services entrusted to Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Mar. 4, 2026.
Todd Amani
Todd Amani, cherished father, grandfather, uncle, brother, friend, colleague, and beloved soulmate of Mary Jo, passed from this life to the next on January 26th, his 71st birthday. His kindness, good humor, generosity, love of play, camaraderie, perseverance in all adversity, creativity, gentle nature, steadfastness, calm wisdom, and courage, especially in this final passage, touched so many. He faced Alzheimer’s with quiet grace.
He was a natural teacher, listening closely with curiosity. Friends and family enjoyed his guitar playing, sing-alongs, chocolate chip cookies, sourdough bread, and kombucha. Todd graduated from Wartburg College (1978) and Johns Hopkins School of International Studies (SAIS) (1983). The majority of his work career was as a USAID foreign service officer, serving in Egypt, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mozambique. He worked for four years as Director of Safe Passage, a non-profit providing schooling and family support for children in Guatemala City. From1986-1987, Todd and Mary Jo shared a Political Science teaching position at Wartburg College. From 1985-86, Todd worked as legislative assistant for Congressman Tim Penny of Minnesota. For years, Todd headed out at 5:30 am every day in all weather to deliver the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
He leaves behind his wife, Mary Jo (Felderman) Amani; daughter, Elisabeth; son, Liam (Sarah); daughter-in-law, Cristina; grandson, Gabe; siblings Scott (Robin) Hanson, Mark (Steph) Hanson, and Lynn Hanson; mother-in-law Janet Felderman, and brothers in law, Bob (Nancy) Felderman, Bill (Wendi) Felderman, of Dubuque, Iowa, and Patrick (Jeri) Felderman of Florida; dear nieces and nephews; and good friends from around the world. His son, Luke, passed away in 2015. Neighbors in Swannanoa, North Carolina will miss his daily evening rolls in his wheelchair with his faithful dog companion, Saoirse. We will all miss his quiet splendor.
Nabil Balamon Tawfik
Nabil Balamon Tawfik passed away peacefully on December 21, 2025. Nabil was the loving husband of Salwa el-Sarraf of Centreville Virginia, and the devoted father of Mirette Tawfik of Centreville and Nadine Tawfik of Cairo, Egypt. Nabil was a voucher examiner in the U.S. Embassy’s Financial Management Center in Cairo, Egypt, for 32 years before his retirement. He was an active member of the Shooting Club in Dokki, Cairo, and a devoted family man. Salwa served in USAID/Egypt for 33 years, as the Executive Assistant to the Mission Director and as the senior Administrative Assistant to the Legal Office. Nadine served in USAID/Egypt’s Program Office for 5 years until the Mission’s recent closure.
Condolences may be sent to the family at selsarraf58@hotmail.com or (571) 480-1314.
Joyce Mabel Holfeld
It is with love and admiration that we say goodbye for now to Joyce Mabel Holfeld of Gastonia, NC who passed away on January 16, 2026, at the age of 82.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Franz Werner Holfeld and Anne Beaudrot Holfeld, and her sister Barbara Anne Holfeld. She is survived by her sister, Doris Holfeld Kellar, beloved nieces and nephews (Lisa K. Turner; Franz, Andy, Louis, and David Kellar) and 11 great nieces and nephews.
After graduating from Furman University in 1965 with a degree in Political Science and Sociology, Joyce served in the Peace Corps in Niger, conducting grassroots public health education. When asked why she cared so much about Africa and had such a drive to serve there, she replied that she believed “what happens in Africa will eventually happen to the whole world.” After receiving her Masters in Public Health and population dynamics from Tulane University in New Orleans, she lived in New York and worked for the World Health Organization.
Next, she accepted an appointment and began her long career of foreign service with the State Department of the United States, making her stateside home in Washington, DC. A seasoned Foreign Service Officer with extensive overseas and Washington experience, Joyce served in the USAID’s Policy and Program Coordination Bureau as the Agency’s Population, Health and Nutrition (PHN) Senior Advisor and also served as Secretariat for the HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases Senior Management team. She established PHN’s first Office of Field and Program Support, serving as its first director. Overseas, Joyce was Director of USAID/Morocco’s Office of Population, Health and Human Resources. She was posted at USAID’s regional office in Abidjan, pioneering the development of first bilateral child survival and population programs in West and Central Africa. Before USAID, she organized field programs for women’s and children’s health and voluntary contraception in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Over the course of her career, Joyce brought to USAID over 38 years of experience in International Development.
In the words of a former colleague in a farewell message at her retirement in 2005, Joyce was “the key person in the Global Health Bureau, the person who actually makes everything work” and was a person who was a “professional with grace under pressure.” Another former colleague wrote that she “always put the field first… those most needy were her prime concern.” Another described Joyce as “always upbeat, enthusiastic and optimistic, no matter the situation.” Considered an exceptional host, she showed “southern hospitality” while holding terrific dinner parties and events several times a month; colleagues from around the world wanted to be on the guest lists for Joyce’s events. Described as “receptive, concerned and supportive, Joyce was known as an encourager for younger colleagues and a leader with “vision, wisdom and generosity.”
After retiring in 2005, she returned home to Gastonia, taking consulting jobs for a few years, working for the Bill Gates Foundation to set up vaccination programs abroad. A staunch Democrat from her teen years, Joyce worked on the local level to affect community and national politics and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity during retirement. She believed in the power of working for positive change in the world and lived her life following that principle. She enjoyed working on family genealogy and traveling to see people and places from family history, such as the Hohlfelds of Germany.
Niger, Taiwan, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tunisia were places Joyce lived and served, spending nearly 2 decades living in Africa. As children, her beloved nieces and nephews and, later, her great nieces and nephews were inspired to travel, seek adventure, and help others in their vocations or advocations. Joyce encouraged her loved ones to find their passion.
One of Joyce’s memorable goals was to swim in every ocean and sea on the globe, a goal that she attained. Other goals, written down and kept since her teen years, included learning French fluently, visiting the Egyptian pyramids, riding an elephant, traveling through the Sahara on a camel, being invited to the White House, learning to sail, and studying African art, were mostly attained. A fearless and determined adventurer with a love of people all over the world, Joyce found joy in collecting friends and making family wherever she served. A visionary ground-breaker who crashed though many glass ceilings, Joyce left her mark on the world.
The family will receive friends from 1:00 pm until 2:00 pm, Friday, January 23, 2026, at McLean Funeral Directors of Gastonia. A funeral service will follow at 2:00 pm in Founders Chapel of McLean Funeral Directors with Reverend Jeff Spargo officiating. Interment will follow in Gaston Memorial Park.
Because Joyce was a lover of her pets, Lucy the cat in particular, anyone desiring to make a contribution in Joyce’s memory may donate to the Animal League of Gaston County, 425 West Franklin Blvd., Gastonia, NC 28052. Phone number 704-868-4673.
To send flowers to the family of Joyce Mabel Holfeld, please visit our floral store.
Yolanda Morris
Yolanda Morris, beloved wife, mother, grandmother and sister passed away on February 4, 2026. Yolanda (née Falconi Ledesma) was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador on May 7, 1928. She grew up there surrounded by a large close-knit extended family. In 1951 she moved to New York City where two of her older brothers, Alfredo and Arturo Falconi resided. She studied at Columbia University and was later employed by large advertising firms. On an extended visit to her family in Ecuador in 1954, she met Patrick Morris, an officer with the US foreign assistance program. They were married in Quito in 1955 and transferred to Washington headquarters, where they resided until 1958. During her husband’s career they served in Bolivia, Venezuela, France, and Dominican Republic, as well as extended periods in Washington D.C. Yolanda was charming, engaging and gregarious and made friends easily. During their long years in the Foreign Service, she raised four children and made lasting friendships wherever they served. Her family was central to her life and she was a loving and devoted mother and wife. She enjoyed playing bridge and loved fashion and art. Since childhood she had dreamed of living in France and that became a reality when Patrick transferred the family to Paris to take a position with the OECD in the 1970’s. She had a passion for travel and planned exciting trips for her family throughout Europe and to Morocco. While in Paris, she learned French and took lessons at the Cordon Blue cooking school and became a gourmet cook. She regaled her family with extraordinary, delicious meals. Friends and extended family celebrated her for her intimate dinner parties. Yolanda went out of her way to extend her hospitality to her siblings, nieces and nephews. In later years she showered her grandchildren with love. Starting in 1995, Yolanda thoroughly enjoyed fifteen years serving as a trilingual volunteer at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC. Yolanda is predeceased by her siblings, Arturo, Ricardo, Alfredo, and Gustavo Falconi Ledesma and Elena Falconi de Moreno.
Yolanda is survived by her husband, Patrick F. Morris, their children: John Morris, Patricia Morris(Omar Flores), Stephen Morris(Barry Abel), Kevin Morris (Monica Palacios) and grandchildren: Devin Morris (Amber), Gabriela Morris-Flores, Beck and Fiona Morris. Services private.
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Published by The Washington Post on Feb. 15, 2026.
Lois Mae Hobson
Lois Mae Hobson passed away on February 2, 2026. She was the wife of Ambassador Princeton Lyman, a retired career diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. She had one daughter, Donna Lynne Hobson, from a previous marriage to Judge Donald Lewis Hobson. She has one grandchild, Danica Lois Rowe Wilson and son-in-law Richard Wilson, a great grandson, Aiden Wesley Wilson, one living sister, Connie Bobbit; and numerous nieces and nephews. Born March 10, 1938, in St. Louis, Missouri, she was the oldest girl with 7 brothers and 2 sisters. She graduated from Vashon High School in St. Louis and later moved to Newark, New Jersey in 1958 where she completed a B.S. in 1960 from Newark State College (now Kean University). She moved that same year to Detroit, Michigan where she worked for the Detroit Board of Education. After receiving her Master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1968, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she worked briefly for the Office of Economic Opportunity and other agencies within the U.S. Government. In 1971, she joined the Africa Bureau of USAID where she managed a program introducing minority-serving university and college level students to working abroad in international development. Her experience in USAID and the Office of Environment, Science and Technology in the Department of State fostered her career in international work. Following a year of language study in Lille, France, she joined Africare, a non-profit organization in 1989 where she established a program for black South African graduates of U.S. colleges and universities, helping them obtain experience and training in the U.S. prior to their return to post-apartheid South Africa as new professionals. She lived in South Africa for several years, returning to the U.S in 1996 where she accepted a position with the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences to direct an exchange fellowship program between math and science professors from minority-serving universities and NASA scientists. In 2000, she served as a Peace Corps Country Director, completing tours in Zimbabwe and Namibia respectively. She retired from the U.S. Government in 2005. The family at her wishes will have a private service.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Feb. 15, 2026.
John Thomas Rigby
Longtime Washingtonian John Thomas Rigby passed away peacefully January 2 at the age of 90. John died in Maryland at Collington, a retirement community where he had moved in 2024.
John was born and raised in Richmond, VA, the youngest of three sons of Christopher and Gladys Rigby. He attended Georgetown University, earning a BA in English and a JD in law. John met Anne Curtis in Grand Isle, La., in 1956 and they were married in 1959. John joined the law firm of Arnold, Fortas, and Porter in 1961. He was active in the firm’s civil rights involvement and was the first head of its pro bono publico program. In 1976, John became the executive director of International Voluntary Services, a Washington-based volunteer organization and a precursor to the Peace Corps. During John’s tenure he transformed IVS into a truly global organization by ensuring its volunteers were placed into community development programs managed by local non-profits. John’s core belief in the strength of local communities guided his work for the next 44 years.
John’s life was dedicated to promoting democracy and governance in developing nations. His leadership spanned prestigious international non-profits, including the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), where he served as president and CEO, and PACT, Inc., where he was first a board member and then country director in Zimbabwe. He also served the U.S. government as a senior transition advisor in the Office of Transition Initiatives at USAID. He retired in 2020 at the age of 84.
(NOTE: One of his USAID colleagues says: “He was chief of party in OTI/Zimbabwe back in the day. After that he was in the OTI bullpen for many years as a Sr. transition advisor…he was a revered mentor to many program staff both in the field and in Washington.”)
John often worked in the world’s most difficult and dangerous post-conflict zones, working to bridge the gap between immediate relief and sustainable development. He was a fixture in post-conflict zones even into his 80s and a mentor to many. His enthusiasm remained undimmed and he found profound hope in the resilience of the communities he served.
Over the course of his personal and professional travels, he visited more than 70 countries and territories covering six continents, as well as 49 states.
John enjoyed his life abroad and at home. He loved books, music, bird watching and the outdoors. John loved family and neighborhood gatherings, playing his guitar and leading singalongs. He and his dog Boudreaux were a familiar sight together. He maintained well into his later years that he still didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up.
John was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Bob and Chris Rigby. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Anne, and his children Julie, Leslie, Jeff, Crispin and Sam. He was also the beloved “Bon Papa” to his six grandchildren, Malcolm, Finn, Curtis, Charlie, Vaughan and Anna. A celebration of life will be held this spring in Washington, D.C. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Feb. 8, 2026.
Philip Birnbaum
October 3, 1928 – February 3, 2026
Philip Birnbaum, an accomplished development economist, passed away on February 3, 2026, at the age of 97. He resided in Great Falls, Virginia. He is survived by his son Frederic and his wife Sue, and son Nicholas and his partner Jennifer, and cousins, (grand) nephews and (grand) nieces. His beloved wife of 65 years, Joan Elaine (formerly Lewis) Birnbaum, passed away in December 2024.
He was born on October 3, 1928, in 
Union City, New Jersey. His parents were Henry Jack (Jacob) Birnbaum and Lena Birnbaum, both of whom were born in Eastern Europe, and he was predeceased by his brother, Norman Birnbaum. Mr. Birnbaum attended public school in Teaneck, New Jersey. He received a B.B.S. degree from Rutgers University, and an M.A. in economics from Columbia University. He also attended Cambridge University in England on a Fulbright scholarship and received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He taught economics in the School of General Studies at Columbia University, and served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957 as an instructor in the Infantry School at Fort Benning, GA.
In 1959 he joined the USAID predecessor agency ICA until USAID itself was established in 1961 and served in the U.S. Agency for International Development for over 25 years, including as Assistant Administrator for Policy and Program Coordination, as well as in overseas assignments in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. He headed the U.S. delegation in the negotiations with OPEC countries that led to the establishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, Italy, and served as IFAD’s first Senior Vice President from 1978-83. After his tenure at IFAD, he worked at the World Bank as Co-Financing Advisor in the Africa region, mobilizing bilateral donors’ support for the Special Program for Africa, and later as a consultant in the Inter-American Development Bank in support of Consultative Groups in Central American countries.
Philip was very proud of his career, but his family was most important to him. Not only his immediate family, but he was generous of his time and resources with his (grand) nephews and (grand) nieces. He enjoyed family vacations, including trips throughout the U.S., in Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. He also enjoyed spending time with Joan’s relatives, and the two of them often traveled to New York City for visits.
He encouraged and supported Joan’s lifelong love of art and her work as an artist, often helping her frame her paintings and assisting her art group with exhibitions. He was very involved with many Jewish and Israeli organizations, including Ben Gurion University of the Negev and was a member of Temple Sinai in Washington, DC. He also supported the four universities he attended and numerous wildlife organizations.
Philip enjoyed playing tennis, gardening, fishing, and participating in The Mavens men’s group. He was also an avid reader of histories and biographies, particularly those pertaining to World War II and its celebrated heroes.
In the last several years, with the challenges Philip was enduring, we are grateful for the time we were able to spend with him. We will also cherish the lifetime of memories that we have.
The Memorial Service for Philip Birnbaum will be held on April 12, 2026 at 3pm ET at Temple Sinai located at 3100 Military Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015 (https://maps.app.goo.gl/9ftfwkbsEQaQ9tae6).
Leslie Black Cordes
Leslie Black Cordes, beloved wife of Bill, devoted mother of Nathan and Sophia, dedicated advocate on energy and climate issues, and lifelong friend and mentor to many, passed away on December 30, 2025. She was 62 and had battled triple negative breast cancer for more than two years.
Leslie was born on April 7, 1963, in Los Angeles, California, to Sam and Carolyn Black and grew up in Malibu, California. After graduating from Santa Monica High School and the University of California at Berkeley, she moved to Washington, DC, where she completed a Master of Science in Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
In Washington, Leslie met and married Bill Cordes, a career budget analyst at the US Department of Education, and shortly thereafter had two children, Nathan and Sophia. She adored them both, and actively supported them through childhood and early adulthood, taking great pride in their accomplishments as Nathan began a career in finance and Sophia became a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology. Leslie was especially pleased to be able to join in celebrating Nate’s marriage to Rachel Hill and Sophia’s wedding with Kyle Schneider, both of which took place in 2025.
In 1987, Leslie began her professional life as a staff member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where she helped shape and enact the 1992 Energy Policy Act and updates to the Clean Air Act. She was especially proud of her role, on behalf Committee Member Senator Tim Wirth, in organizing the 1988 hearing with climatologist James E. Hansen that helped raise awareness of human-caused climate change.
Leslie’s Senate accomplishments spurred a long career focused on public and private partnerships aimed at mitigating the global impacts of climate change. In 1995, she moved to the US Agency for International Development, where she helped manage greenhouse gas mitigation activities as part of the agency’s Energy Efficiency Project. In 1998, she began an 8-year stint at the Alliance to Save Energy, an energy efficiency nonprofit with programs in the US, Eastern Europe, and the developing world. She started as Director of International Programs and ultimately rose to serve as Vice President for Program Development, leading efforts to develop and implement initiatives related to climate change, energy efficiency, and water conservation.
Following two years at the Environmental Protection Agency, where she managed programs to limit climate change through the voluntary use of renewable energy, in 2008 Leslie began managing energy and climate initiatives at the United Nations Foundation. At UNF her proudest achievement was helping launch the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (now the Clean Cooking Alliance). This initiative was aimed at helping end cooking over open fires or with inefficient stoves, a practice that threatens the health and safety of up to one quarter of the world’s population—especially women and children—while also contributing to climate change.
Leslie retired in 2023 after holding additional positions at the Alliance for Justice, an organization focused on judicial nominations to Federal and State courts, and at CERES, a nonprofit advocacy organization aimed at building business support for market solutions to the challenges of climate change.
In recent years Leslie developed a strong interest in helping resettle immigrant refugees in the DC area. Working initially with local resettlement organizations focused primarily on refugees from Central America, she helped furnish new homes for immigrants often arriving with little more than the clothes on their backs. When those organizations became overwhelmed following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Leslie stepped up and began to lead her own deliveries for newly arrived Afghan refugees who often found themselves sleeping on bare floors in empty apartments following their arrival in the United States. She also stayed in close touch with many of the families she helped resettle, offering support in finding jobs, rounding up school supplies for their children, and meeting financial needs.
Next to her family, Leslie’s greatest joy—and one that sustained her through her long illness—was the extraordinary number of friendships she developed and nurtured over the course of her life. Despite her busy career and family life, she had a strong interest in the lives and well-being of others and always made time to catch up, share stories, and offer advice to family, friends, and colleagues. Leslie also was an avid gardener, reveled in making a “find” at thrift stores, and treasured her weekly Mah Jongg gatherings (where she greatly enjoyed the company but also played to win).
Leslie will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her. A memorial service will be held in late February. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Feb. 1, 2026.
Charles William Torquill Stephenson
Charles William Torquill Stephenson died on December 17, 2025, following a stroke. Shortly after his birth near London on June 30, 1935, the family moved to Oxford, where his father had a position in psychology at the University. They lived there throughout World War II while his father, made a Brigadier, was tasked with psychology in England and in India. Charles attended his cherished Dragon School until he was 13, when his father moved the family in 1948 to the USA to teach at the University of Chicago. Charles, his mother, and his three siblings first stayed with relatives in British Columbia. From a high school in Chicago he was awarded a Ford Foundation scholarship for 16-year-olds to enter one of certain universities. He chose the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he followed the Integrated Liberal Studies program and was Managing Editor of the Daily Cardinal. After getting a BSc in 1955, he enrolled in NYU Law School, then transferred after one year to Yale Law School (1959 LLB). Always striving to do his best, he suffered a breakdown while at Yale. He was diagnosed later as bipolar, though unipolar better describes him, as he never experienced depression in any of his episodes. After law school he became an American citizen, first practicing in a small firm in New Canaan, CT, then moving to USAID in Washington, where he was an attorney in the General Counsel’s Office for 31 years.
Alongside his professional work he was a writer. He self-published “Development Cantos” in 1993, “Dream Cantos” in 2001, and “Transparency Cantos” in 2008. Illustrations are by his mother Maimie Stephenson, an acclaimed artist. His writing was encouraged by a summer visit to Ezra Pound’s daughter Mary de Rachewiltz, who lived in the Italian Alps. In a turret of her castle, Charles created an innovative form of blank verse, which is formatted to appear like poetry, but uses sizable indentations to direct the pace at which the reader is to read it. He was also a talented carpenter and a sensitive portrait photographer, who excelled with the candid shot. He delivered jokes with an infectious humor, and had a vast memory for poetry and from his past. In support of his father William Stephenson’s work on Q-Methodology, he was made Honorary Chair of the International Society of the Scientific Study of Subjectivity (I4S). He was a member of the Society of Policy Scientists, of DACOR (an Organization of Foreign Affairs Professionals), and of the British and Commonwealth Society of North America.
He was happily married to Cathya Wing for 56 years. He is survived by her and by their two children, Margaret (Vladimir Zaslavsky) and Donald; one step-granddaughter, Alexandra (Shay) Knaani; three grandchildren, Nicholas, Sophia, and Leonor; and three step-great-grandchildren, Jordan, Skylar, and Luka. While the granddaughters live in Brazil with their mother and her family, these other family members live in the DC area. Charles’s brother Richard (Mary Ellen) lives in Rogersville MO, but he was predeceased by their sisters Averil and Mariel. A Celebration of Charles’s Life will be held in the spring in Nethers, VA in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where the family enjoyed spending many weekends, and Donny is currently upgrading their antique log cabin.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Jan. 30, 2026.
Michael C. Niebling
On January 8, 2026, following several weeks of valiant struggle in the hospital, Michael Niebling died in hospice at The View Alexandria by Goodwin Living. He is predeceased by his devoted wife of 49 years, Suzanne Niebling. He is survived by his son, Christopher, daughter-in-law Valerie Fenton, sister Katie Flynn, and his significant other of four years Janet Kerley. A 43-year resident of Lake Barcroft, he is also mourned by many friends in that close-knit community. Michael (Mike) was born in Short Hills, NJ on November 29, 1940, was a proud alumni of Williams College and was a Yale graduate school of economics. He worked for several years at USAID, and 29 years at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), dedicating most of his time, including many months and years abroad, to numerous countries in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. Mike was an avid sailor, model-railroader, and gardener. He was also a lifelong lover of music, lending his rich voice to several choral groups, madrigals being his favorite. A gathering to celebrate Mike’s life will be held by the lake he loved so much, in late spring. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Jan. 21, 2026.
John ‘Jack’ Robert Eyre
John Robert Eyre was born in California on April 19, 1933, and died in Guatemala on June 1, 2023. After 1953-55 tour overseas with the U.S. Army he graduated from Loyola University in Los Angeles in 1959. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama from 1964 to 1966 and joined USAID/Panama in March 1966 as a program assistant, the start of over a 30-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service. Jack rose to the rank of Minister Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service, serving as Deputy Mission Director in the Dominican Republic and the Regional Office for Central America and Panama (ROCAP), where he also served as Acting Mission Director for an extended period. Earlier in his career, Jack had tours as Program Officer in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Jack met his wife Elena during his days as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The love of his life, Elena pre-deceased Jack and left a tremendous hole in his heart in his final years.
Selig A. “Sy” Taubenblatt
On December 14, 2025, Selig “Sy” Taubenblatt passed away at the age of 98. Beloved husband of the late Sondra Taubenblatt, devoted father of Marc (Wendy), Betsy (Steve), and Joel (Jody); cherished grandfather of 7, and great-grandfather of 2.
Born in 1927, Sy Taubenblatt was involved in the very early stages of the design of USAID and joined it himself in 1961, the beginning of a 22-year career at senior positions with the new agency, retiring in September 1983. A copy of the 33-page oral history of his life and remarkable career can be found here.
Funeral services were held on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at Kol Shalom, 9110 Darnestown Rd, Rockville, MD, with private interment. Memorial contributions may be made to Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, Mayo Clinic, Brooklyn College Foundation or Shaare Zedek Medical Center.. Services entrusted to Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care.
Gordon Bertolin
For all those connected to Gordon Bertolin, it is with sadness that we inform you he passed away on Dec. 9th, 2025, at 74 years old, after a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Gordon grew up in Olympia, Washington and attended Yale University, where he majored in History, a passion he pursued throughout his life. Upon graduation, he joined the Peace Corps, which launched a love of service, travel, and of course, where he met his wife and lifelong partner, Paula. Upon leaving the Peace Corps, they returned to the United States for graduate school at Columbia University. After graduation, he began his career at USAID as a Foreign Service Officer. Over the course of his career from Peace corps through his retirement in 2007 he served throughout Africa (Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Kenya, South Africa), specializing in democracy building and climate change prevention. He was known as a not only as immensely knowledgeable about the work at USAID, but to be a kind, patient, and fair colleague, supervisor, and mentor. In particular he was an advocate for his FSN/local staff colleagues and dedicated much of his focus on helping to build the next generation of local development leaders. All this while wheelchair bound, battling MS. He retired from the Foreign Service in 2007, but that didn’t stop him from giving back. He continued to volunteer at a local citizenship test prep nonprofit, and even proudly canvased for elections and civic involvement on the streets of Arlington, VA from his scooter. In the past decade, he spent his days pursuing family genealogy, studying history, reading, and watching jeopardy. He passed quietly at home on December 9th. Gordon is survived by his wife Paula, his daughters Caroline and Beth, and his four grandchildren, Joanna, Fenn, Elizabeth and Sophia.
Donations in his memory can be made to the National MS Society. And/or please join us in the Annual Walk MS event, held at locations nationwide.
Elliott J. Weiss
Elliott J. Weiss died peacefully at home on December 20, 2025. Born in New York, Elliott graduated from Dartmouth College in 1961, and from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review in 1964. He worked briefly at Paul, Weiss but then chose government service at USAID, where he became the regional legal advisor for Pakistan and Afghanistan from 1968-1972. While there, he helped expose the dire conditions in what was then E. Pakistan. From 1972-76, he was the first Executive Director of the Investor Responsibility Research Center, after which became an academic. He taught Corporations and Securities Law first at Cardozo Law School and then as the Charles E. Ares professor, at the University of Arizona. Throughout his professional career, he worked to bring fairness. He worked on several class action suits, sometimes pro bono, on behalf of shareholders. He brought intensity to whatever he did, including to running, cycling and bridge. He is survived by his wife, Wendy, his children, Peter and Loren, his niece Michelle Acker, his nephews Randy, Acker, and Andy and Matt Gross, as well as six grandchildren. We will miss him. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by New York Times on Jan. 11, 2026.
Gerald Franklin Hyman
Gerald F. “Jerry” Hyman died on December 24, 2025. Born in Chicago, Illinois on September 8, 1942, to Doris and Erich Hyman, Jerry is survived by his cousins Susan and Steven Hess.
A long-time resident of Arlington, Virginia, Jerry had a distinguished career in international development and democracy promotion. He played a central role in establishing the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) first democracy-building programs in Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. A man of keen intellect and unwavering integrity, he served as a political appointee at USAID under both Republican and Democratic administrations from 1990 to 2007.
In addition to his pioneering democracy-building work in Eastern Europe, Jerry helped establish USAID’s inaugural Democracy and Governance Center, serving first as its Deputy Director and later as Director. After leaving USAID, he became a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he managed the Hills Program and supported a network of partner centers in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. He also served on advisory councils to the National Endowment for Democracy. Prior to his government service, he practiced law in Washington, DC, with Covington & Burling.
From 1970 to 1982, Jerry taught numerous, diverse courses in the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology at Smith College. He earned a B.A. in philosophy and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago, as well as a J.D. from the University of Virginia. Throughout his notable career he authored numerous articles and commentaries.
Jerry will be deeply missed by so many colleagues around the world whose lives he touched with his willingness to help anyone in need, by his contributions to the practice and study of democracy, and by his selflessness and service to others. Private services.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Dec. 30, 2025.
Marilyn Ann Zak
Marilyn Ann Zak, also known as Mimi, 83, passed away Thursday, December 18, 2025, at her house. Living alongside her brother, Bob Zak, Marilyn was the daughter of Robert Zak and Casmira Theodora Zak, she was born September 8, 1942. Marilyn graduated with a masters in business at the University of Washington. She worked as the USAID Missions Director, directing missions for many years in different countries, like Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. She leaves many family members and friends who will miss her.
Funeral and following reception at Saint John Mission, 829 Third Street, Mukilteo, Washington. (425) 353-1211. Date TBD. The grave-site may be visited at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, 1615 Southeast Everett Mall Way, Everett, Washington 98208.
Harry Joseph Petrequin, Jr.
Harry’s Outta Here, at Least Physically! He died on November 21, 2025.
Harry Joseph Petrequin, Junior was a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer and International Development Consultant. He was born in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, July 1, 1929, the son of Judge Harry Joseph Petrequin and Cresenthia Ellen Bechter. He held degrees from Westminster College, the American Graduate School of International Management, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Mr. Petrequin was a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, serving as a Deck Officer on a Coast Guard Destroyer-Escort in the Korean theater and on a Coast Guard Cutter in Vietnam during those conflicts. Among his 15 medals and ribbons are a Citation from the Commander of the Army, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, the United Nations Medal (Korea), and the Vietnam Civil Actions Unit Citation. He retired with the rank of Commander from the Ready Reserve and later became a member of the Coast Guard Combat Veterans Association, the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and Veterans for Peace.
Later, he joined the United States Foreign Service in 1956, serving in Vietnam, Madagascar, Togo, Indonesia, Thailand, Senegal, Morocco, and Portugal throughout his career. His final assignment was as a faculty member at the National Defense University, Washington, D.C. During his career in the Foreign Service, he earned the Superior Honor Award of the Agency for International Development for his work in Southeast Asia, and the Superior Honor Award of the State Department for his work at the United Nations. He continued to work as an International Development Consultant in Asia and Africa after moving to Black Mountain in 1991.
Harry was active in various national and international organizations concerned with promoting world peace, protecting the global environment, and improving the quality of life for those less fortunate. The number of calendars mailed to him on an annual basis from these organizations as appreciation for his membership would defy belief.
Harry was blessed with a loving and supportive wife Katharine, three wonderful sons, John Andrew, Marc Christopher, Paul Nicholas, and two caring daughters in-law, Luani and Rachael. He is eternally grateful for many marvelous people of various cultures, religions, and ethnic groups he encountered for the fascination, fellowship, enjoyment, perspectives, and guidance they provide during his sojourn on this planet. In particular, he thanks his friends and acquaintances in Western North Carolina for having made his life here so delightful. He bids them all a fond “Adieu”.
There will be a celebration of Harry’s life at a date to be determined later, but his most solemn wish is for all those who can: Take time and enjoy the beauty of all nature has to offer with the time that we have. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Harry Joseph Petrequin, Jr. , please visit our floral store.
Harwood Home for Funerals, 208 W State St., Black Mountain, NC 28711
Linda Margaret Rogers
Linda Margaret Rogers, a 40+ year resident of Georgetown in Washington, DC died unexpectedly on November 3, 2025. Born in 1949 in Sylva, NC, she was the daughter of Dalton and Eloise Rogers. She grew up in Hickory, NC and Gainesville, FL, graduating from the Univ. of Florida majoring in English Literature. Never married, she is survived by sister Frances Rogers Hopson, Ft. Bragg, CA, and brothers David Rogers, Marana, AZ, and Marvin Rogers, Gainesville, FL. She was preceded in death by her brother Albert Rogers, Gainesville, FL.
Always interested in politics, she began her career working on Scoop Jackson’s Florida Senatorial campaign. She worked as a lobbyist for the Plastics Industry Association, and in Government Affairs for Dow Chemical. She completed her professional career working for USAID in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Margaret loved to travel, having visited over 40 countries. France was her favorite. She loved D.C.- the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, the monuments, the many restaurants, the cherry blossoms. She was very involved with Afghan Women’s issues and became a voice for Afghan women’s rights, education, and conflict prevention. She really cared about the Afghan people and wanted to empower them with tools with the intent of helping them succeed. She served on the board at the Aschiana Foundation: Helping Afghan Children Build a Brighter and Better Future. No services are planned. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Nov. 25, 2025.
Henry William Reynolds
Henry William Reynolds died peacefully on Monday, October 20, 2025, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was born in North Adams, Massachusetts on September 20, 1936, to Walter and Jessie Reynolds. His brother, Walter and Henry were born during the Second World War and the Great Recession. Though poor, he only remembered the good times with his brother, and the loving care of his parents and grandmother.
After his father’s passing, his mother worked very hard to send Henry to North Adams State College where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. She was very proud to see her son become the first in the Reynolds family to receive university education.
Henry decided at an early age that he wanted to travel the world and help others along the way. He started his journey of global service as a staff member with the US Peace Corps, where he was an associate director for education programs in the Dominican Republic, and Deputy Country Director in Honduras. That led him to an outstanding career at the US Agency for International Development as a foreign service officer, what he often called his dream job. He was also very proud that USAID chose him to pursue his graduate degree, and he received his Master’s in Education at Florida State University.
He was known throughout his career as one of USAID‘s legendary international education officers during his service in Latin America and Africa. He served in Liberia for 7 years, Honduras 4 years, Costa Rica 3 years, El Salvador 3 years and finally in South Africa for 5 years.
Many of the education projects that he designed and managed in countries in Latin America and Africa were considered the most successful during the 1970s and the 1980s. He was a mentor to untold numbers of Peace Corps Volunteers and USAID officers, and inspired hundreds of young people who went on to have outstanding global service careers, both in USAID and in many other spheres.
He retired from USAID in 2001. While living in Liberia, he embraced his new religion with the blessing of the Jehovah Witnesses, in 2002 he was baptized into the church, and he then dedicated his life to Jehovah. He was known by the Northern Virginia congregation as someone who would help anyone in need, do whatever he could on behalf of the congregation, and was dedicated to preaching the word of Jehovah. This man who was so proud of his foreign service career and his academic degrees, became a humble and grateful servant of Father Jehovah.
In his final years, and despite the mental challenges he faced in his battle with Parkinson’s disease, Henry always remembered his love for his work at USAID, and he still enjoyed talking about his experiences overseas.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, sons, Akim and Dennis and daughters, Kajsa and Linda. He also lovingly adopted the extended family of his wife, and lives on in their memory: the Zacapa, Herrera, Argueta, López, Caceres, Ramos y Quintanilla families.
Jerry Sowalsky
Jerry Sowalsky, son of Ruth and Samuel Sowalsky, died on November 10, 2025. He was born on July 10, 1934, in Hartford, CT, where he was raised and graduated with honors from Weaver High School. A 1958 magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College, Jerry was honored in his junior year as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He next attended Harvard Law School, where he graduated with honors as well. The next 6 months were spent in the army, where Jerry served as a medic! Returning home, he began his career in the law office of Senator Abraham Ribicoff. He also met the love of his life, Patti Lurie. They married in 1961 and moved on to Washington, DC, in 1965, where Jerry went to work for the African Division of the Agency for International Development at the State Department. Then in 1967, Jerry’s interest in the corporate world led him to work in New York for American Airlines, where he was appointed vice president. His last career move in 1973 was once again back to Washington, DC, where he joined Feld Entertainment, a company that included Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice, Sigfried & Roy Illusionist in Las Vegas, and others. Jerry’s quiet intelligence served him well as general counsel and senior vice president, spending the next 43 years often working on projects with such notables as Prince Rainier of Monaco, Andrew Lloyd Weber, George Lucas, Steve Wynn, the Fuji TV Group in Japan, Actor Bill Irwin, and many others. Everyone he knew admired him for his leadership, unflappable demeanor, and his ability to always get the job done.
Jerry and his wife, Patti, loved to travel the world on foot and by sea. They were avid theater goers, serving through the years on many theater boards. As lovers of art, they developed a large collection of contemporary realist works by living artists. Rarely, if ever arguing, Jerry and Patti ran a loving and peaceful household that attracted many lifelong friends to it.
Jerry leaves behind Patti, his beloved wife of 63 years; sons Richard Sowalsky (George Theordoris), John Sowalsky (Jacky Casumbal), and daughter Susan Gold. He also leaves his cherished granddaughters, Madeline and Jacqueline Gold, as well as many dear friends, and his constant companion, Molly the dog.
Funeral Services will be held at 2pm on Thursday, November 13th, at the Garden of Remembrance Chapel – 14321 Comus Rd, Clarksburg, MD 20871. Shiva will be held following burial at the Somerset Clubhouse, starting about 4pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to JSSA. Funeral arrangements entrusted to Sagel Bloomfield Funeral Care.
Published in: Hartford Courant from November 12, 2025
David Delos Bathrick
David Delos Bathrick passed away on November 4, 2025, after battling cancer. He is survived by his sons, Derek and Ryan; daughters-in-law, Karla and María Fernanda; grandchildren, Karina and Ben; sister, Sue; extended family in Peru; and many dear friends around the world. He is now reunited with his beloved wife, Elena, who passed away in 2019.
Born on May 10, 1941, in Seattle, WA to Daniel and Mariana Bathrick, David grew up in Bellingham and graduated from Washington State University before earning master’s degrees in Political Science from Arizona State University and International Agricultural Development from Cornell University. He served for over 23 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam, Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, and Nicaragua, retiring in 1991 as Director of the Office of Agriculture and a Minister-Counselor in the U.S. Senior Foreign Service. He continued his development work for nearly two more decades across 15 other Asian, African, and Latin American countries. Even in “retirement” he constantly advocated to help lift the world’s poor out of poverty.
David was a one-of-a-kind family man and friend, who cherished his relationships and nurtured lifelong connections with warmth and constancy. He will be greatly missed for his optimism, his great sense of humor, and for his thoughtful and caring nature.
A viewing will be held at Jefferson Funeral Chapel, 5755 Castlewellan Dr., Alexandria, VA, on Sunday, November 9, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m., and at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 8710 Mt. Vernon Highway, Alexandria, VA, on Monday, November 10, from 9:30 a.m. until the Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Good Shepherd Catholic Church. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Nov. 7, 2025.
Carol Henderson Tyson
Carole Henderson Tyson, Ph.D., a diplomat, professor, and mother, passed away peacefully on September 15, 2025, following a long illness with dementia and, more recently, cancer. Born August 29, 1942, she was the daughter of Jacob R. and Freddye S. Henderson, founders of Henderson Travel Service, the first fully accredited, Black-owned travel agency in the U.S.
A lifelong learner and educator, Carole held degrees from Tufts, Howard, and Harvard. Carole pursued advanced French studies at universities in France and Senegal, later teaching at UC-Berkeley and Howard University. She had a distinguished 20-year career with USAID, directing economic development programs in Senegal, Lesotho, and Jamaica, and was involved in numerous international organizations, including co-founding the International School of Dakar. She is survived by her two sons, two sisters, sisters-in-law, four grandchildren, and extended family and friends.
A Service is scheduled for Friday, November 7, at Shiloh Baptist Church. 10 a.m. Family Visitation. 11 a.m. Celebration of Life. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations for causes in Senegal and Jamaica. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Oct. 19, 2025.
Stephen Hirscher Spangler
06/13/1942 – 10/11/2025
Stephen “Steve” Hirscher Spangler passed away on October 11, 2025, at 83 years of age surrounded by the love and warmth of his family and friends.
Born and raised in Ohio, Steve moved to Washington, DC in 1972 following numerous years living abroad, first with the Peace Corps in Panama and later with USAID in Vietnam and Liberia. He moved to Arlington, VA, which he lovingly called home for 45 years, when he married Barbara Ann (Stevens) in 1980. The two were each other’s lifelong companions and partners in raising Christopher and Elizabeth “Libby”. They shared their sense of adventure with Chris and Libby through their travels domestic and abroad.
Steve was an active member of the Arlington community, serving as the president of the Arlington Soccer Association (later inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013) for nearly a decade in the 2000s and as co-chair of the IT committee of Encore Learning. He was an active member of Peace Corps Panama Friends.
Steve received his bachelor’s degree from Miami (Ohio) University and master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He worked for over 30 years for the federal government.
Steve will be remembered as a loving husband, wonderful father, playful “Gappa”, brother, thoughtful uncle, and a considerate friend.
Steve was preceded in death by his wife, Barb, and is survived by his two children Chris (Filipa) and Libby (Bobby); three grandchildren Isabel, Lucas, and Lucy. He was preceded in death by his parents Walter and Martha, and brothers Scott and Jim.
A celebration of Steve’s life will take place on October 20, 2025 in Arlington, VA. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post from Oct. 18 to Oct. 19, 2025.
James Louis Blum
James “Jim” Louis Blum died on October 7, 2025, at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Virginia at the age of 89 after a bout of pneumonia.
Born on March 7, 1936, in Elgin, Illinois, Jim had a typical small-town upbringing, serving in the Boy Scouts and working afternoons and weekends at his family’s restaurant and ice cream parlor. Scooping hard ice cream was not his preferred pastime, however, so he immersed himself in his school work and extracurriculars at Elgin High School. At the University of Michigan, he discovered a talent for economics and went on to receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the subject, as well as completing coursework for the PhD.
Fresh out of school, Jim began a lifelong career of public service. From 1962 to 1965, he worked for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in Paris and Athens. He then worked for the government of Zambia’s Office of National Development and Planning through U.S. AID. Upon returning to the States, Jim worked at the Bureau of the Budget (now known as the Office of Management and Budget) during the Johnson and Nixon administrations.
In 1975 Jim became a founding member of the Congressional Budget Office, where he served as Assistant Director for Budget Analysis until 1991. He was the acting director of CBO from December 1987 to March 1989, while Congressional deliberation delayed the appointment of a new director. From 1991 through his retirement in 1999, Jim served as the Deputy Director of CBO.
Jim was a member of numerous professional organizations and often hosted foreign government counterparts from around the world. He loved being a public servant, but he was also humble. His own children did not know until after his death that the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis bestows a James L. Blum Award for Distinguished Service in Budgeting. In AABPA’s words, the award is given to “individuals who have distinguished records of accomplishment in public budgeting, are respected leaders in the budgetary community, have significantly advanced the state of knowledge in the field, and by personal example, have set exceptionally high standards of achievement, professionalism, and ethics for all public servants.”
Jim’s dedication to his career in the government was such that it was hard to imagine him retiring. But he took to retirement with gusto, focusing his economist’s eye on cataloguing impressive collections of classical music and opera CDs, wine, books, and detailed itineraries for trips to Europe. Jim loved baseball and became an avid fan first of the Orioles and later the Nationals. Also a hiker, he racked up many miles on the Appalachian Trail, spending two weeks every summer with his family in the White Mountains. Later in life, Jim’s hiking was replaced with long walks and bike rides in Alexandria and the environs.
Jim was predeceased by his wife of 41 years, Priscilla Aycock, his elder brother, Edmund Davis Blum, and his younger brother, William Allen Blum. He is survived by his former wife, Margene Berry, and their son Christopher Blum and daughter Meredith Ford, and by four grandchildren. Many former coworkers and friends will miss Jim’s quiet generosity.
A service to honor both Jim and Priscilla will occur at a later date.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Oct. 15, 2025.
John Rudolph Eriksson
August 10, 1935 – September 17, 2025
After many months of serious illness, John Rudolph Eriksson died peacefully at home on September 17, 2025. He was born on August 10, 1935, in Detroit, Michigan to parents G. Rudolph and Aina Eriksson. He attended a local elementary school on Detroit’s West side and graduated high school from Cass Technical School with a major in electronics. While he attended Wayne State University, John worked a part-time job as a lifeguard and met the love of his life, Lois Rogers, also a student there. He continued at Wayne State and received his Master’s Degree in Economics and Industrial Relations, but not before marrying Lois the day after she graduated with an Art Education degree in June 1957. John was awarded three scholarships that allowed him to attend the University of California at Berkeley. After five years of study, he received his PhD in Economics. His thesis involved tracing the economies of several Central and South American countries. He and Lois traveled for five months to Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. After graduating, he became an Assistant Professor of Economics at Williams College in Williamstown, MA.
While living in Williamstown, he and Lois adopted two children, Mark and Beth. While on one sabbatical leave from Williams, John worked as a Research Economist for the International Labor Office in Geneva, Switzerland. The family enjoyed visiting France, Italy, and Belgium. In 1970, he began a career with the U.S. Agency for International Development (“USAID”), as a Chief and International Economist, as Deputy Director, as the USAID Mission to Sri Lanka; as a Director in the Office of Policy Development and Program Review; as a Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Science and Technology; as a Director, USAID Mission to Thailand; and Director, Center for Development Information and Evaluation. During leaves from USAID, John was a Consultant for the International Labor Office and Organization of America States (Ecuador field work) and a Visiting Associate Professor of Economics at Arizona State University. He retired from USAID Senior Foreign Service in February 1995 with rank of Minister Counselor, and after receiving the Administrator’s Distinguished Career Award. While at USAID, John received special awards of merit from three different U.S. Presidents.
After retirement, John worked for the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank, USAID, Danish International Development Assistance Program, Danish Institute for International Studies, Social Impact, Inc., IRG for the US Department of State Foreign Assistance Bureau, and ended his career with multiple senior consultant positions at the World Bank. He visited or worked in 70 countries during his distinguished career. He started Global Peace Services in 1998 and passionately worked to expand his national and international network supporting those working in peace services – promoting nonviolent approaches to latent or emerging conflicts and developing innovating pilot education and training in peacebuilding, peace services curricula, and preventative measures against violence eruptions.
John was an active member of Saint Stephen Lutheran in Silver Spring, Maryland, and, when living overseas, many other Christian churches. He served in multiple leadership positions, and, even to the end of his life, he was more concerned with the ways his congregation cared for and accompanied immigrants/refugees than himself. John is survived by his spouse of 68 years, retired Reverend Lois; his daughter Beth of Ellijay, Georgia; his son Mark (Kelli) of Hagerstown, Maryland; grandchildren Morgan and Dylan; and many other beloved friends and colleagues he considered family.
All are invited to a Memorial Worship celebrating John’s faithful life on Saturday, November 8 at 12:30pm ET at Saint Stephen Lutheran Church, 11612 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20904 (livestream: https://www.youtube.com/@officeofsaintstephenluther6429 ), with a 2:30pm interment at Parklawn Cemetery, 12800 Veirs Mill Road, Rockville, MD 20853. There will be an international repast at Saint Stephen immediately following the interment. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be directed to: Saint Stephen Lutheran, P.O. Box 4092, Silver Spring, MD 20914-4092, https://www.saintstephenelca.org/give or Global Refuge, https://www.globalrefuge.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/ .
Brooke C. Holmes
Brooke C. Holmes, a career diplomat whose postings spanned continents and decades, died September 10, 2025 of complications related to Parkinson’s disease. He was 86. Loving husband to his wife, Eliana, of more than five decades; beloved dad to his two children, Alexa and Devin; and a devoted “Grandpa” to his four granddaughters, Elise, Adela, Kiara, and Millie.
Brooke earned a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College, a master’s from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an M.F.A. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1966 (after two years in the U.S. Army) and served in a wide array of international assignments, including Rome—where he met his wife, Eliana—Vietnam with USAID, the Bahamas, Athens, and as Consul General in Canada, Nigeria, and the Dominican Republic. He later served as Director of the State Department’s Office for Science and Technology and concluded his career as a senior inspector with the Office of Inspector General after retiring in 2001.
Known for his wit, warmth, and insatiable curiosity, Brooke embraced the cultures of the countries he served in and visited. Even in retirement, he remained an avid traveler, living in Latin America and the Middle East with Eliana and making frequent journeys to spend time with his beloved granddaughters in Africa and in the Pacific Northwest.
Brooke was a mentor to many in the diplomatic corps and held officer roles with the American Foreign Service Association and the Consular Officers Association, where he was respected for his collegiality and commitment to public service.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 18, at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, 4201 Albemarle Street NW, Washington, DC. In lieu of flowers, we ask that contributions be made to the Senior Living Foundation of the American Foreign Service (https://www.slfoundation.org/).
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Oct. 12, 2025.
Duff G. Gillespie
Duff G. Gillespie, a renowned global health leader, respected scholar, and devoted husband, father, grandfather, and brother, passed away at 82 on October 4, 2025.
Born in Cairo, Illinois, Duff studied at Washington University in St. Louis, earning a B.A. in Political Science and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology. He later lived in Kensington, Maryland, with his family.
Duff Gillepie’s stellar career in global health spanned more than 60 years. He joined USAID in 1973 as a health administrator before taking on leadership positions, including chief of the Research Division and director in the Office of Population. He also oversaw the creation of the Global Health Bureau and served as its senior deputy assistant administrator, the senior-most career position in the agency’s health sector. After leaving USAID, he was a Visiting Scholar at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. From 2004 until his passing, he was a Senior Scholar at the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health and Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
During his three decades at USAID, he laid the foundation for some of the most significant advances in international population and health policy. His leadership was instrumental in shaping U.S. global health strategies and advancing evidence-based programs worldwide. He worked closely with leadership in the United Nations Population Fund, World Health Organization, UNAIDS, European government and non-governmental donor agencies, private foundations and health ministries around the world. He was the recipient of many honors and awards, including USAID Administrator’s Distinguished Career Service Award, the Presidential Rank Award (three times) and the Arthur Flemming Award. He continued to actively develop international projects in global reproductive health while at Johns Hopkins.
His global health policy efforts have established and protected many initiatives that improved public health and nutrition, human development and human rights in low-income countries. Duff was a rigorous thinker, data-driven researcher, generous mentor, and strategic advocate.
Outside of his professional life, Duff was known for his sharp sense of humor, wide-ranging curiosity, and commitment to his family. Duff enjoyed fine dining and was an excellent cook, especially curry and barbecue. He loved British mysteries, high-performance cars, hiking, working out, and, when younger, playing squash.
Duff is survived by his wife, Joanne; his sister, Linda (Carolyn); his sons, Reed and Mark (Jenny); and his grandchildren, who will carry forward his love, guidance and example.
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Thomas Hamlin Reese III
Tom Reese passed away June 23rd, 85 years after his birth in Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1939. Tom will be remembered for his very special character, big smile and enthusiastic support for his family, friends, and professional colleagues.
Tom exemplified the USAID officer of its early years. He joined USAID as a Management Intern in 1967. He came to USAID with a degree in economics from the University of Maryland and a two-year stint with the US Army. As USAID sought to build up the technical expertise of its staff, it sent Tom to the University of Pittsburg for an advanced degree in economics and demography.
With that background, Tom and his growing family departed for Indonesia, 1972-1978. The 1970s was a decade of increased international focus on population issues, with concerns about rapid population growth and its impact on economic development, resource use, and health. Indonesia became a key focus of USAID’s population efforts in Southeast Asia. Tom was particularly engaged with educational campaigns to raise awareness about the benefits of smaller family sizes, contraceptive use, and maternal and child health – as well as demographic studies.
The USAID-backed programs had a significant impact on reducing Indonesia’s population growth rate. By the end of the 1970s, family planning had become a key element of Indonesian development policy. The population growth rate fell from about 2.3 percent annually in the 1970s to about 1.7 percent by the 1990s. The program is recognized as a model for other developing countries, demonstrating the effectiveness of government commitment combined with international support in achieving demographic transitions. Tom was one of a distinguished group of USAID officers and collaborators responsible for this success.
Tom followed his time in Indonesia with an assignment to Egypt in 1979 where he continued his work in the area of population and demography. Recognizing Tom’s growing managerial skill set, USAID appointed Tom as Director of Food for Peace in 1983. Food for Peace was a significant program addressing urgent food crises, but with Tom’s insight, encouragement, and bureaucratic savvy, it began to take on a larger significance within USAID as an important actor in promoting long-term development goals.
At this point, Tom moved into increasingly responsible positions at USAID, Director of the Office for Northern Africa in Washington and then Director of the USAID Mission in Bangkok, Thailand. There Tom joined a forward-looking set of USAID colleagues seeking to link local strengths in areas of science and technology with private sector finance and initiative in the Asia region and with the United States. Tom then retired from USAID in 1992 with the rank of Minister Counselor in the US Senior Foreign Service.
A note on some of Tom’s enthusiasms. He was an avid runner – participating in marathons in Athens, Greece and in Egypt itself, barefoot. He was an adventure traveler, one of his great stories concerning what turned into a dangerous trek at Mount Sinai. And, of course, no remembrance of Tom should leave out his passion for the Washington Redskins, and especially the Super Bowl Victory in 1988
In retirement Tom worked with the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler School of Business on partnerships and projects across Southeast Asia. He relocated to Flagstaff, Arizona where he lived until his death in June. His sons, Tom and Glenn, are fathers to the four grandchildren Tom loved so much.
Lestine Rebecca “Tess” Johnston
Adapted from Tess Johnston, Diplomat Who Helped Preserve ‘Old Shanghai,’ Dies at 93. By Sam Roberts, The York Times, 27 Sep 2025
Lestine Rebecca “Tess” Johnston, a former U.S. foreign service officer who was posted to South Vietnam during the war and documented her experience as a woman there, then spent many years in Shanghai rallying support for the preservation of its vanishing colonial architecture, died on Sept. 14, 2025, in Washington. She was 93.
Her death, from complications of Covid-19 in an assisted living facility, was announced by Tina Kanagaratnam, a founder of the organization Historic Shanghai. Ms. Johnston, Ms. Kanagaratnam and her husband, Patrick Cranley, started the group in 1998, aiming to help safeguard the architecture and culture of Shanghai that predates China’s Communist revolution. In recent years, much of the cityscape has given way to gleaming skyscrapers.
Through her books and lectures, Ms. Johnston called attention to the importance of preserving “the historic city before it changed beyond recognition,” Historic Shanghai said in a statement, adding that “she generously shared her knowledge with a generation of writers, scholars and Shanghailanders.” Ms. Johnston, who had no formal training in historic preservation, focused on Shanghai’s eclectic colonial architecture — its early-20th-century Spanish villas, onion-domed Russian Orthodox churches and Art Deco structures — all built by expatriates from 1842, when China ceded control of the urban core to the British after the First Opium War, until World War II and the Communist takeover in 1949.
Those structures predominated in the French quarter and peppered the American, Russian and Japanese sections of the city. Ms. Johnston documented the architecture on virtually every street. With the Shanghai photographer Er Dong Qiang (also known as Deke Erh), she published “A Last Look: Western Architecture in Old Shanghai,” the first of her two dozen books on architectural history and walking tours, in 1993. She also recorded oral histories and collected a trove of ephemera — cricket cages, phone books, tables with secret drawers. She later donated her archives to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Ms. Johnston, who spoke fluent Mandarin but never lost her Southern accent — she was born in North Carolina — served at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai from 1981 until she retired in 1996. Having grown to love the city, she then decided to remain there. By the time she returned to Washington, in 2016, few if any foreign residents of Shanghai had lived in the city longer than she had. Of her first impressions of the city, Ms. Johnston once said: “I had never been to a foreign country that looked so utterly and completely Western. It was perfectly preserved, a cross between Warsaw in 1938 and Calcutta, a totally Western city with an Asian population.”
Because the Communist Party was more concerned with doctrine than demolition, she told The Guardian in 1997: “We have the Cultural Revolution to thank for Shanghai’s preservation. Otherwise, we would be 25 years further down the road. There would be nothing left.” Still, she said, when she arrived in Shanghai in 1981, the city’s tallest building was 22 stories, and when she left, there were three skyscrapers taller than the Empire State Building.
She documented her experiences working in Vietnam in a 2018 memoir. Credit…via Historic Shanghai
Lestine Rebecca Johnston was born on Sept. 17, 1931, in Charlotte, N.C., the only child of Lester G. Johnston, who sold petroleum products, and Alma (Yoder) Johnston, who oversaw the home. She grew up in Charlottesville, Va. After graduating from high school, Lestine, who went by Tess, briefly worked for an advertising agency in Richmond, Va. She joined the foreign service in 1953 as a secretary after a relative had tutored her in typing and shorthand.
Ms. Johnston was posted to the American consulate in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she became interested in vintage buildings. She soon returned home to pursue a college degree at the University of Virginia. She wanted to major in architectural history, she said, but found that the subject was not available to undergraduate women. Instead she studied English, history and German literature, earning a bachelor’s degree in education in 1961 and a master’s in German in 1963. She also obtained a master’s degree from the College of William and Mary in 1964.
That same year, she joined the U.S. Agency for International Development in South Vietnam, where she worked as an aide to Wilbur Wilson and John Paul Vann, military advisers to the South Vietnamese Army. She documented her experiences there in “A War Away: An American Woman in Vietnam, 1967-1974,” a 2018 memoir in which she recounted witnessing the Tet offensive by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong in 1968.
Ms. Johnston didn’t hesitate to visit hazardous combat zones. Mr. Vann, she wrote, “loved gutsy females,” and she recalled that when visiting dignitaries were reluctant to accompany him on helicopter tours of the battlefields, he would reply, “My secretaries go out with me all the time.” (Mr. Vann, who became disillusioned with the war and died in a helicopter crash in South Vietnam in 1972, was profiled by the former New York Times correspondent Neil Sheehan in “A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam,” which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989.)
Following the war, Ms. Johnston rejoined the State Department, serving in New Delhi and Tehran before being transferred to Shanghai in 1981 and named executive secretary to the consul general. Apart from a brief stint in Paris in the late 1980s, she would remain there for 35 years. In 1986, she was named Foreign Service Secretary of the Year for her role in coordinating President Ronald Reagan’s visit to Shanghai.
She left no immediate survivors.
While Shanghai has designated hundreds of buildings as historic landmarks since she began her crusade, other Chinese cities were neglecting their heritage, Ms. Johnston told The New York Times in 1998. “What we learn from history,” she said, “is that we don’t learn from history.” She expressed hope, though, that her books would immortalize Shanghai’s split reputation as “the Paris of the East” and what she called the “wickedest city in the East,” associated with the drugging and kidnapping of American sailors in the 19th century. “Maybe people will look at our books one day and say, ‘So that’s what China looked like,’” she said.
In her mind’s eye, as well as in her books and the nearly century-old buildings she helped preserve, Shanghai’s past lived on. “I found on arrival this perfectly preserved Western-looking city sitting here on the improbable shores of China,” she said in an interview with the Shanghai Daily newspaper in 2010. “Shanghai seems to have something, some mystique that grabs foreigners and makes it hard to leave,” she added. “So I didn’t.”
Sam Roberts is an obituaries reporter for The Times, writing mini-biographies about the lives of remarkable people.
Geswaldo “Joe” Verrone
Geswaldo “Joe” Verrone passed away peacefully at the age of 94 in his home on September 10, 2025. Joe was born on December 28, 1930 in Johnstown, PA. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Andree Verrone, parents Toribio and Perina Verrone as well as his sisters, Jean Patterson, Minnie Bermosk, Corie Sallese and Casey Pfister. Joe is survived by his son Mark Verrone, and daughters Sona Davis (William), and Lisa Bonanno (Robert) and his brother Dr. Anthony Verrone. He was the best friend of his grandchildren, Kevin Davis, Ashley Dakkouni (Larbi), Alexis Davis, Jordan Bonanno and Danielle Bonanno. Joe was a loving Great Grandfather to Farrah Dakkouni and Zayn Dakkouni. He also was a loving uncle to Carol Anne Dzuricky and two nephews Timothy and Eric Pfister.
After achieving his Bachelor’s degree from University of Pittsburgh, he was drafted in the United States Army at the end of the Korean War in 1953 where he served as a Preventative Medicine Technician, his introduction to the Public Health profession. His incredible career included him receiving a Bachelor’s of Science in Zoology-Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in Public Health in Sanitary Science from the University of North Carolina school of Public Health in 1960. He went on to get his Doctorate in Public Health Administration from Tulane University school of Public Health in 1974. Upon Completion of his training and service in the U.S Army as a Preventative Medicine Technician Joe was selected as district sanitarian for the Anne Arundel County health department in Annapolis, Maryland.
He then was recruited into the World Health Organization where he received additional training in Holland and served as the Chief Sanitarian-medical entomologist in South India. He instituted the first environmental health malaria eradication program in this portion of India.
In 1960 Joe received another foreign assignment in Ethiopia, Africa with the United States Agency for International Development. He developed and published the first Malarial Mosquito classification key for the Ethiopian Empire. Joe was asked by the Minister of Health to design an Ethiopian postage stamp commemorating malaria eradication in the Empire. This stamp was accepted by the Ethiopian government and the World Health Organization in Switzerland and continues to be coveted by stamp collectors throughout the world.
In 1962, Joe returned to the U.S. and received a commission from the U.S Public Health Service and was called to active duty in the Indian Health Service. He developed and implemented a comprehensive environmental health service program for the Native American people living in the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. He was called upon to carry out a special assignment for the IHS so he and his family moved to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
In 1983 Joe was again called upon to take an extended assignment to help with improving and renovating the management structure of the IHS. Joe also served as chairman of the United States Public Health Sanitary Career Development Committee.
Joe received many awards for his excellence in performance and leadership throughout his extensive career. From the USPHS he received a Commendation Medal, a Meritorious Service Award, a commissioned Officer Award, and Outstanding Service Medal. He received a Calvin Wagner Award from the American Academy of Sanitarians. From the University of North Carolina School of public health, he received the Distinguished Service Award along with Most Honorable Alumni. His outstanding career was filled with personal and professional commitment to service of others.
Joe’s legacy will live on in the countless memories of his laughter, warmth, and wisdom. Whether he was sharing stories over a meal with family or offering advice that shaped the lives of those around him, Joe’s sharp mind and generous spirit were ever-present. His love for his children, grandchildren, and friends was unwavering, and he never hesitated to give, whether it was through a home-cooked meal or a word of guidance. Joe leaves behind a wealth of cherished moments and a legacy of knowledge, kindness, and family that will continue to inspire those who were lucky enough to know him. He will be dearly missed but never forgotten.
Friends may call at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, 917 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD 20852 on Thursday, September 18, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. with Mass of Christian Burial to begin at 10 a.m. Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Silver Spring, MD. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Sep. 15, 2025.