In Memoriam

Recent Tributes

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Peter Benedict

Author, International Development Expert Peter Benedict, Ph.D., a senior program director with RTI International and former career foreign service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), died of cancer May 16, 2006, at The University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill. He was 67.

Since 2003, Dr. Benedict had served as senior program director and country manager for the Iraq Local Governance Program, which RTI is implementing for USAID.  During 2003 and 2004, Dr. Benedict spent 18 months in Iraq as RTI’s chief of party for the project, overseeing local governance support operations throughout Iraq. In 2005, he became technical manager for the project and based at RTI’s Research Triangle Park campus.

Prior to joining RTI, Dr. Benedict had a 23-year career with USAID that included assignments as mission director, during which time he led and managed the U.S. government’s foreign assistance programs in Mauritania, Niger, Cameroon and Zimbabwe, and several senior positions at USAID Headquartersin Washington, D.C. He authored and edited several books and articles on economic and social development in the Middle East.

He began his career as a researcher and university professor at the University of Chicago, where he earned a master’s degree in social anthropology and a doctorate in economics and anthropology. Before joining USAID in 1976, Dr. Benedict supervised a number of humanitarian programs for the Ford Foundation in Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

After retiring from USAID, he served as an executive with Family Health International in Durham and later with Chemonics International, before joining RTI International.

Dr. Benedict is survived by his first wife, Cordelia Dahlberg Benedict of Chicago, and his current wife, Page of Raleigh; four children, Peter Alexander Benedict of Maplewood, NJ, Elisabeth B. Long of Olympia, WA, Timothy Benedict of Franklin Grove, IL, and Katherine Browning Benedict of Raleigh; granddaughter, Harper Poppy Long.

A memorial service will be held 9 a.m. Saturday, May 20, 2006, at Saint Michaels Episcopal Church on Canterbury Road in Raleigh. A memorial scholarship fund has been established for deserving freshmen at the University of Chicago in memory of Dr. Benedict; contributions can be made to: Pooled Scholarship Fund in Memory of Peter Benedict.  Condolences may be made to the family at www.brownwynne.com. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The News & Observer on May 18, 2006.

Agatha Gwendolyn Brown

Agatha Gwendolyn Brown, who was born on August 5, 1947, in Washington, DC, died on February 10, 2025, in Largo, Maryland, at 77 years old.  She was a long-time civil servant working in a variety of administrative positions in AID/W, including as an assistant to the USAID Counselor.

Gloria J. Greene Blackwell

Gloria J. Greene Blackwell died on October 25, 2024, in Odenton, Maryland. She was born on December 16, 1950, in Greenville, North Carolina, to Johnnie and Dora House Greene (deceased). She attended Simpson Elementary School, and G.R. Whitfield High School in Grimesland, North Carolina. Education was a key component of her life. She was committed to learning and growing. Gloria earned degrees from Fayetteville State University, Bachelor of Science (Sociology), and Trinity University, Master’s Degree (Employee Assistance Counseling). She also received an Equal Employment Opportunity (Certificate) from Cornell University and took master’s degree courses at George Washington University.
As the Bible says in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Gloria’s Christian attributes were as bright as the sunshine and sparkled like the stars! Gloria was an example of quiet strength. Living her purpose, she availed herself to serve others in communities and during her 30-year federal government career in the U.S. Agency for International Development, most of which was in the EOP (EEOC) Bureau as a counselor.  She married Larry Blackwell (deceased) in 1986 and embraced her role respecting, loving, and supporting her husband. Gloria was generous. She loved to praise God and glorify Jesus! Also, Gloria loved her family and friends, enjoyed cooking delicious meals, traveling, shopping, and watching football.
Gloria is preceded in death by her parents, Sisters: Novella Gumbs, Doris Adams, Dennie Jones, Janie Greene, Leona Richards, Brothers: Donald Greene, Willie Greene, Wilbert Greene, and Stanely Greene.
Leaves to cherish memories, Sisters: Mary Isler (Frederick), Kinston, NC; L’Tange Alexander, (Ron), Southampton, NJ; Barbara West -Davis (Jerome), Baltimore, MD; Anette Blackwell (sister-in-law) Brothers: Howard Malleary (Felica), Greenville, NC; Martina Adams (brother-in-law), Greenville, NC. and Samuel Whitfield (brother in Christ), Staten Island, NY; nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Gloria J. Greene Blackwell, please visit our flower store. Beall Funeral Home, 6512 Crain Hwy., Bowie, MD 20716.

Timothy Joseph Bork

Timothy Joseph Bork passed away on June 7, 2025, after a courageous battle with glioblastoma, faced with the same strength and selflessness that defined his life. He is survived by his closest companions-his wife, Shigeko Bork, and his daughter, Skye Bork.

Timothy was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on March 9, 1943, and grew up in Rockford, Illinois. He graduated with a B.A. from Lake Forest College, and received a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law, and an LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center.

Timothy devoted his life to justice and dignity-first as a civil rights attorney in Georgia, and later across Africa, where he shaped U.S. foreign assistance with courage and unwavering moral clarity. As USAID’s Mission Director in South Africa during apartheid, he implemented the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act not from a desk, but “sitting on a cardboard box,” listening to Black leaders and channeling U.S. aid to those most oppressed, insisting, “This money is in trust for you-tell us what to do with it.” From advancing legal reform to linking hands with Africa’s human rights defenders, he led with empathy, earning trust in places where America’s word alone wasn’t enough.

He was an avid sportsman, most at home on the basketball courts of Miami, Tokyo, and Georgetown, on the ski slopes of Aspen, or in the audience watching Skye perform ballet.

As a husband, father, and fierce advocate for justice, Timothy will be most remembered for leading his life with love and generosity.

To attend his memorial on June 18, 2025, please email shigekobork@gmail.com.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Washington Post on Jun. 16, 2025.

Barton “Barry” Veret

Barton “Barry” Veret, born on June 24, 1935, died peacefully of natural causes on June 6, 2025 surrounded by his loved ones. He attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and spent most of his career working for the State Department Agency for International Development and living in the Washington, DC area. He was a philosopher with a curious mind, loved nature, and was a writer. He has three published original works of fiction and wrote thoughtful poetry as well. He is survived by his wife Nancy Veret; his two stepdaughters Leslie Strittmatter (husband Rob Strittmatter) and Linda Kobrin (husband Gary Greenblatt), and his three grandchildren and one great grandchild. He is also survived by his two sisters Linda Rindler and Judy Hoberman (husband Larry Hoberman) and his six nieces and nephews. No donations are being accepted.  To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Washington Post on Jun. 15, 2025.

Stephen Klein

Stephen Klein died on May 28, 2025, at age 89 after a brief illness. He was a loving father, grandfather, brother, public servant, and civil rights advocate. He faced his death as he lived his life, with tenacity, warmth, and good humor, surrounded by family and friends.

Born in Newark, New Jersey on February 20, 1936, to Elmer Klein and Sylvia Finkenberg Klein, Stephen had two brothers, Paul and David, to whom he stayed close for his entire life. At age five, Stephen’s family relocated to Chicago, where he promptly got lost wandering in the Chicago Zoo. He spent the rest of his childhood growing up in Highland Park, rooting for the White Sox, becoming an accomplished golfer, and spending time with a gang of close friends, including Sheldon Baskin and Alan Rappaport who became lifelong friends.

In 1958, Stephen graduated from Cornell University alongside his friend and fraternity brother Joel “Bergs” Bergsman. At Cornell, Stephen majored in Political Science and Government, where he was the captain of the golf team. He made the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship that year, losing on the second-to-last hole to eventual champion Phil Rodgers. After college, Stephen went on to earn an MBA from the University of Chicago and later a Masters in Economics from American University.

For the majority of his adult life, Stephen lived in Washington D.C. Called to public service after graduating from business school, he joined the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1963 and worked in a variety of roles focused on development and energy policy with a focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency until 1991. He served as a loan officer in Nigeria in the late-1960s, then transferred to the US AID domestic service in the 1970s to be an involved father to sons Abram and Sam, who has special needs, and step-daughter Niani. During this time Stephen travelled frequently to Ethiopia working on development projects, then became an expert on deforestation, energy and environmental issues in developing countries as AID’s Energy Policy Advisor. His friends recall him talking about the coming salience of global climate change as society’s next great challenge before most people had ever heard of global warming or the greenhouse effect. In 1985, Stephen transferred back to the Foreign Service, leading AID’s Energy and Natural Resources Division in Morocco, where he helped establish a new Moroccan Renewable Energy Institute and led Energy Policy and Energy Efficiency technical assistance to transform Moroccan energy policy toward increased reliance on abundant renewable energy resources. Whether in Morocco, Nigeria or elsewhere, Stephen made friends easily with local officials and their families; sometimes on the golf course and frequently over conversation-laden meals. In Morocco, Stephen insisted that his home staff not speak English to better develop his French skills, and after retiring he continued to take French lessons until his passing, periodically travelling back to Morocco or France to visit. His Moroccan house-keeper Kadisha became a devoted friend. After leaving AID, Stephen worked for the next year as a member of the U.S. delegation for the worldwide U.N. Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which established the international diplomatic process to address the climate crisis. Stephen subsequently worked part-time as an international development consultant.

Stephen’s commitment to advocacy and justice extended throughout his life, even outside his work at AID — from marching against the war in Vietnam, to advocating for Jewish safety and Palestinian rights as a member of J Street, to supporting the Adams Morgan neighborhood’s development, to serving as a board member of the Hill Country Project, which records histories of grassroots activism in rural America, until his death. Stephen held elected office on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in D.C. and also served on the District’s Redevelopment Land Agency. In his retirement, he tutored children in reading every week. He was a co-author of Voices from the Mississippi Hill Country: The Benton County Civil Rights Movement, published in 2020, which won the Book of the Year award from the Mississippi Historical Society in 2024, and remained active in community affairs, including traveling to Mississippi in his final weeks as part of his democracy education work.

Most importantly, Stephen was a present, supportive, and unconditionally loving father and grandfather. Parenting his two sons, Abram and Sam, and his stepdaughter, Niani, was a focal point for Stephen’s life, and he took on new responsibilities and joys in his time as a grandparent. Stephen’s younger son Sam lives in a group home for developmentally disabled adults in Southern Maryland, and Stephen was his cheerleader, advocate, and fiercest supporter, visiting him every week of his life. He was cherished by all three of his children and always considered Niani a daughter rather than a stepdaughter.

As a grandparent to Eliza, Jeremy, Danny, Zion, and Aliyah, Stephen traveled to ultimate frisbee tournaments, viola recitals, track meets, and school plays to enthusiastically cheer on his grandchildren, and took great interest in their pursuits. When Eliza worked at an environmental advocacy non-profit, he closely read the organization’s 32 page policy memo and then wanted to discuss it in detail. He loved to talk politics with Jeremy and hear stories about Danny’s frisbee team. He was a daily presence in Zion and Aliyah’s lives as they shared a home; he made them french toast every Sunday, shuttled them to school and activities, and took pride in their accomplishments. As a present and loving godparent to Sasha and Marcus, he taught them to ride bikes, traveled with them to France and Spain, and ate dinner together each Sunday, where they read Harry Potter after dinner and he always fell asleep.

Stephen loved birdwatching, gardening, jigsaw puzzles, ice cream, golf, reading the newspaper (especially the sports section which he read daily starting with the Chicago Sun Times at age five), cooking with his wok, making french toast on Sundays, and democracy. He was notorious in the Crestwood neighborhood for walking his enormous Great Pyrenees dogs, Boris and later Beau. He loved to talk about politics and energy policy with his grandchildren, who reported that “once he got going, he wouldn’t stop.” He welcomed guests in his home for long and short term stays, from friends and family members who lived with him for years to his grandchildren’s college classmates camping out in sleeping bags on his floor when they traveled to D.C. for protests. He had so many friends who loved him, and had a wonderful ability to build relationships across age, race, gender, and nationality, including unique, ongoing and loving relationships with former partners Jeanie Lujan and Audrey Rowe, and with Sam and Abram’s mom, Helen Marek. In his final weeks, he saw a revolving door of visitors who expressed how much he meant to them.

Stephen’s strong will, patience, good humor, attention to detail, dedication, and unwavering support for his loved ones were present even in his final days. He is survived by his sons Abram and Sam Klein; his daughter-in-law Debbie Klein; his son-in-law Xris Omotesa; his grandchildren Eliza, Jeremy, and Daniel Klein and Zion and Aliyah Omotesa; his brothers David and Paul Klein (and his sisters-in-law Evelyne and Natalie Klein); his chosen family and godchildren Lynn, Sasha, and Marcus McNair; his former spouses Audrey Rowe and Helen Marek; his dear friend Jeanie Lujan; and many adoring nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his stepdaughter Niani Omotesa and his parents Sylvia and Elmer Klein. He was proud of his family and his career, and in his final days, expressed feeling immensely content with his life and grateful to have found such fulfillment and meaning. We will miss him so much.

Please join us for Stephen’s memorial service on Friday June 6th at 10:30 AM at the Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home at 11800 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD. Following the service will be a shiva/reception on-site where friends and loved ones can gather in Stephen’s memory.

In lieu of flowers, his family asks that you donate to the “Sam’s Dad” Fund Fund at The Arc Southern Maryland. Stephen’s son, Sam, is supported by The Arc. Your gift will help continue the work that meant so much to Stephen — ensuring individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are seen, valued, and empowered every day. You can donate online here using the link below. https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/the-arc-of-southern-maryland/sams-dads-fund If you’d rather give a check, you can mail it to The Arc SoMD, P.O. Box 1860, Prince Frederick, MD 20678.

Vincent Cusumano (July 29, 1943 – May 19, 2025)

With deep sadness we want you to know that Dr. Vincent Cusumano from Springfield Illinois passed away at his home on May 19, 2025, in the presence of his beloved wife Luisa Cusumano, his children Rosanna, Paul, and their families.

Vincent Cusumano, born on July 29,1943, in Montevago, Italy, was retired from the US Foreign Service after a career with the Agency for International Development (USAID).
He served as an agricultural economist for development programs in South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Washington, DC. He began his international life as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile, where he met and married his wife the love of his life of 57 years, Luisa Cusumano.

Vincent will be greatly missed by family his two brothers and their families, grandkids and his many close friends, who enjoyed his pleasant, supportive, kind approach to life. He was a caring role model of a brother, uncle, family man, grandfather, a wonderful friend, a humanitarian, and a gentleman.

He leaves a legacy two amazing families and four grandkids who are now
college and soon to be high school graduates.

A celebration of life for family and close friends will be held in the near future. In lieu of flowers, donate to the Cancer Association or please send cards, photos, and memories to Luisa at 19355 Cypress Ridge Ter, Apt 408, Leesburg, VA 20176.

We ask that all who knew him to remember him in your own way on July 29th or eat a bowl of your favorite ice cream since to his grandkids he was known as the ice cream man.
—The Cusumano family

Irving M. Destler

I.M. “Mac” Destler, Scholar, Teacher, and Devoted Public Servant, Dies at 85.

I.M. “Mac” Destler, a distinguished scholar of American foreign policy, devoted public servant, and beloved husband and father, died peacefully in his home in Woburn, Massachusetts, on March 27, 2025. He was 85.

Born in Statesboro, Georgia, on August 21, 1939, Mac was the proud son of Chester McArthur Destler and Katharine Hardesty Destler. Following his father’s politicized firing at Georgia Teachers College, young Mac moved north with his family and settled in New London, Connecticut, where he lived through high school. After graduating from Harvard University in 1961, Mac followed President Kennedy’s call for service, joining the US Peace Corps as a Volunteer in the program’s first year and teaching at the newly-established University of Nigeria.

Mac moved to Washington, DC in 1965 after earning his MPA from Princeton University. He worked for then-Senator Walter Mondale before moving to the Executive Branch, serving on Johnson’s Task Force on Government Organization before taking a position at the US Department of Agriculture focused on international development at the onset of the green revolution.

These early experiences gave Mac an insider’s view of policymaking. A Council on Foreign Relations fellowship enabled him to reflect on those experiences and hone his analysis, laying the groundwork for a PhD from Princeton University, the publication of his first book, Presidents, Bureaucrats and American Foreign Policy, and a career dedicated to understanding the institutional, organizational and political dimensions of policymaking. In doing so, he became, in his own words, “a bit of an anomaly” – taking “cabs to Capitol Hill … while others were doing research around the world.”
Through work “thinking in several tanks” (Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics), he built a reputation as an expert on US-Japan Relations, U.S. trade politics, and White House decision-making. Along the way, he authored or co-authored 14 books, including American Trade Politics, which received the Gladys M. Kammerer Award for the best book in U.S. National Policy from the American Political Science Association in 1987.

Mac believed deeply in institutions, studying them and investing time on the ground to make them thrive. After joining the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy faculty in 1987, he quickly became a central figure in the life of the school—recruiting colleagues, running programs, serving twice as interim dean, and above all, fostering a generation of students committed to public service. He lent the same commitment to Immanuel Presbyterian Church, where he sang tenor in the choir for 40 years.

He also believed deeply in people. Mac was a dedicated teacher and generous advisor, a cherished mentor and colleague to those who worked and wrote alongside him. And he loved his family, proudly telling stories of his mother and father to all who would listen, cherishing his siblings—Paul, Anne and Bill—and taking particular joy when his younger brother Bill became his “boss” as Provost at the University of Maryland.

He was immensely proud of “the warm, witty love” of his life, Harriett Parsons Destler, highlighting her world-traveling ways and her crucial work on development and program planning at the US Agency for International Development. They enjoyed parallel careers and a decades-long partnership following a serendipitous meeting in Mt Tremblant, Canada. Mac quietly supported his son and daughter, seldom telling them what to do but loudly proclaiming their professional and personal accomplishments. And he loved children—especially babies and toddlers—whether his own grandsons or the children of students, colleagues and others who crossed his path.

In addition to his wife Harriett, Mac is survived by his son Mark and daughter Kate (Johann Neem); his brother, William (Bill) Destler (Rebecca Johnson); and his three grandchildren, Rylan (18), Avery (14), and Griffin (8), each of whom brought him profound joy and pride. He delighted in their growth, their curiosity, and their place in the world that he sought to shape for the better.

He will be remembered for his sharp mind, generous spirit, and enduring belief in the power of public service to improve the world. His legacy lives on in the many students he mentored, the ideas he shaped, and the family he loved so deeply.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 14 at 2 p.m. at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in McLean, Virginia. In lieu of flowers, the family invites contributions to Mac Destler’s Washington, a fund to help launch future generations of public servants and policy scholars into meaningful work in Washington, DC.

For inf and online guestbook visit:
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on May 25, 2025.

Bruce Stader 

(Died in February 2025, no obituary yet)

Stephen Hall Grant

Stephen H. Grant, 84, of Arlington, Virginia, passed away peacefully at home on April 12, 2025.

A retired Foreign Service Officer, Steve led a life marked by global service, scholarship, and a deep appreciation for the arts.

Born in Boston, Steve graduated from Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, MA, and later from Amherst College, in Amherst, MA. He earned a masters degree from Middlebury College, VT, following a formative year at the Sorbonne in Paris. He completed his doctorate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, specializing in international education.

Steves career began with the Peace Corps, teaching in Sassandra, Ivory Coast. He went on to consult for the Academy for Educational Development, with assignments in Washington, D.C., and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. His distinguished tenure with USAID included posts as education and training officer in Ivory Coast, Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, and El Salvador, as well as in Washington, D.C. headquarters. He also worked as an educational consultant for UNESCO in Paris and Abidjan. In Massachusetts, he was certified to teach and spent five years in the classroom.

An avid historian and author, Steve published three books of social history using vintage picture postcards, highlighting life in Indonesia, Guinea, and El Salvador. His work was featured in USAID FrontLines.

In retirement, Steve volunteered as a senior fellow at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) in Arlington from 2004 to 2018, where he edited oral histories and diplomatic memoirs and lectured on African culture at the Foreign Service Institute. His biography Peter Strickland (New Academia, 2007) was recognized as an “ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Book,” with a launch at DACOR and forewords by Ken Brown and Michael Ely. His second biography, Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), brought to light the lives of the founders of the Folger Shakespeare Library and was the subject of a Newberry Cultural Series Lecture at DACOR.

Steve was deeply involved in his community, particularly through Arlington Neighborhood Village, where he spoke to Aging-in-Place groups about how he modified his beloved 1926 Arlington homeof which he was only the second owner.

Music was a lifelong joy. From church choirs to Gilbert & Sullivan operettas and double-quartet harmony in high school, Steves voice carried across continents. At Amherst, he sang in the Chapel Choir and toured Europe with the Smith-Amherst Chamber Singers, performing in Chartres Cathedral, a candle-lit Renaissance theater in Vicenza, and enjoyed post-concert spaghetti with Gian Carlo Menotti in Spoleto. He later performed Carmina Burana in an 1821 Dutch opera house in Jakarta and sang with Encore Creativity’s senior chorale in Washington, D.C., as well as on tours through Canada, Cuba, the Danube, and the Mediterranean.

Steve is survived by his children, Yonel and Sylviane; his granddaughter, Gabriela; his partner, Abigail Wiebenson; and his former spouse, Annick.

Hannah Maxine Baldwin

Hannah Maxine Baldwin passed away on November 7, 2024, in Takoma Park Maryland, at the age of 78. The cause of death was congestive heart failure, which was a complication of her bone cancer from over 30 years ago.

Hannah was born in Stayton, near Salem, in Oregon. Her parents, Clarence Richard Baldwin father, and June Helen (Sophy) Baldwin mother, are both deceased, as is her beloved younger sister Rachel. She is survived by her husband Felipe Tejeda; her daughter Malado Francine Baldwin-Tejeda; her son Francisco Richard Baldwin-Tejeda; two brothers, Daniel and Samuel; and several nieces and nephews. She leaves behind several adopted African sons, daughters, brothers and sisters in Senegal, Guinea, Mali and Namibia, as well as African grandchildren bearing her name.

Ms. Baldwin, with a Ph.D (abd) from Indiana University’s Folklore Department, spent many years living and working world-wide as a development professional, focusing her time in Senegal, Mali, and Guinea as a USAID program director. She served as a director of training for diplomats in francophone studies at the US Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, and in Namibia as Peace Corps Director.

Hannah met her husband Felipe in Senegal as Peace Corps Volunteers in 1969, and lived and worked there for seven years, gaining a passionate love for her new-found friends. She spoke French and Wolof well, loved mafe and yassa, and listened and danced to mbalax music.

Hannah came from a family of creatives and continued throughout her life to add to her repertoire of artistic talents. She was primarily a print maker, ceramicist, and painter.

The Baldwin-Tejeda family is holding a memorial service at their home in Takoma Park, MD on May 3 and 4, 2025. In lieu of flowers or gifts, we ask you to consider donating to a Senegal-based NGO, Tostan (Tostan.org), which works in West Africa and was dear to Hannah’s heart.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Washington Post on May 1, 2025.

Margaret Ann Healey

Margaret Ann Healey, of Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, aged 74, died Wednesday, March 19, 2025, after a brief battle with cancer.

Margaret was born November 20, 1950, in New Jersey and was married to Lawrence Dolan for more than fifty years. Together they raised two wonderful children, Kathleen Jamjuree and Amara Anongsuda. In addition, Amara and her husband Donald Butterfield have two children, Kiara, aged four, and Kayden, aged three. The Butterfields live with Margaret and Lawrence and Kiara and Kayden were the joy of Margaret’s life.

Margaret earned a BA from Rutgers University and a Masters in Business Administration from Rutgers. In addition, Margaret was a Certified Management Accountant.

After beginning her career with Johnson & Johnson, Margaret joined the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a Foreign Service Officer. USAID is the international development arm of the U.S. Department of State. Margaret worked with USAID for 25 years as Executive Officer. In that capacity she served in Indonesia (twice), Thailand, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Ghana. In addition, she supported USAID Missions in Cambodia, Mongolia and Vietnam. In the late 1990s, she was a member of a team of five that created the first USAID program in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.

Upon her retirement in 2016, Margaret was an active volunteer in Saint Johnsbury, serving as a founding member and treasurer of the Caledonia Food Co-op, as treasurer of the Council on Aging and volunteer member of the Community Restorative Justice Center. She served as head of the Vermont Chapter of FARNE, the Foreign Affairs Retirees of New England and was a Member of the Charcot Marie Tooth Association, a group dedicated to the cure of this hereditary neuropathy and a disease that affected Margaret all of her life.

Margaret was the author of a book entitled Backpacking Around Africa 1975-1976 and with her husband was co-author of a two volume book entitled Overseas Posting: Letters from Indonesia and Thailand.

In addition to her husband, children and grandchildren, Margaret leaves behind two sisters, Joan Ross and Patricia Gannon, a brother William Healey and his wife Lois as well as a niece Leigh Ann Healey and nephew, Kenneth Gannon. On her husband’s side she leaves behind sister-in-law and brother-in-law Lynn Dolan and Robert Nabinger and their children Renee and Tyler, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Jen Dolan and Dan Gerber, and their children Corey, Jessie and Josh, brother-in-law Martin Dolan and sister-in-law and brother-in-law Matt Dolan and Jennifer Dolan and their children Christian and Molly.

Margaret asked that her tombstone include the following inscription:

WE LED AN AMAZING LIFE TOGETHER.

Visiting Hours will be held at Sayles Funeral Home, 525 Summer Street, St. Johnsbury on Wednesday, March 26 from 6-8 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place on Thursday, March 27, at 10 a.m. at the St. John the Evangelist Church with Rev. Fr. Lance W. Harlow officiating. Burial will follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Margaret’s name can be made to the Northeast Kingdom Council on Aging or the Caledonia Restorative Justice Center.

Memories and condolences can be shared with the family at caledonialifeservices.com.

Patricia Kasdan

Patricia “Pat” Kasdan (nee MacDermot) passed peacefully in her sleep on March 7, 2025, in Washington, DC. A wonderful, vibrant soul, she was married to (Alan) Richard Kasdan (d. 2023) and is survived by her son David, 56, and her two grandchildren, Olivia, 18, and Connor, 15, all of Westchester County, NY. Born June 28, 1940, in NYC, the daughter of Ilah (Ellen), from the Hudson Valley, and Patrick, an Irishman, Pat was raised from the age of 7 by her single mother and aunt on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she attended the prestigious Marymount School for Girls and spent her summers in Saranac Lake, NY in the Adirondacks. She graduated from Manhattanville College (University) and earned her Master’s degree in Psychology from George Washington University in her 30s.

A lifelong proponent of social justice, Pat was ahead of the curve and joined the Peace Corps shortly after college, in one of the organization’s early groups of volunteers. She was in the first group to go to the Philippines, where she spent two years on a small island teaching English, Math, and devoting much of her time building houses, facilities and enhancing the wonderful community of people she fell in love with. This was a formative and foundational time in her life, making lifelong Filipino relationships and establishing her deepest forever friendships with her volunteer peers.

After returning to the States, Pat met and married Richard, a lawyer from Brooklyn, NY, and settled a few years later in Washington, DC. She took a few years off to raise her toddler son, then continued her passions for social service and psychology working at USAID, and held long-term positions in clinical research at GWU and the National Institutes of Health. Even in retirement, Pat continued to work to better the lives of others, becoming a founding member in 2009 of Northwest Neighbors Village, a community to assist seniors and support the “aging in place” movement, which now has over 250 members and over 140 volunteers.

A survivor of breast cancer in her 50s, she lived a healthy and active life, enjoying authentic and deep friendships, the arts, world culture, travel, and a myriad of social groups and activities, even starting yoga in her late 60s and into her 80s.

Pat’s greatest joy in life was her role as “GaGa” to her two grandchildren. Ever-present in their lives, she doted on them every chance she got, hosting them in DC often and making frequent trips to NY to spend time with them as they grew up. Even during her recent 5+ year battle with bladder cancer, she would pack a bag, hop on the Metro, then Amtrak, and head up to Westchester, always with thoughtful little gifts in tow. That’s Gaga.

Pat always put the needs of others ahead of her own and always had a kind word, a bright beaming smile, a thoughtful idea, a considerate gift, a tasteful joke, a genuine hug, or a positive spin for her loved ones, friends, and even casual acquaintances. She was a true gem who never lost the majestic art of curiosity or her authentic grace of kindness. Pat’s lovely nature will be dearly missed, yet her wonderful energy and bright spirit continue on through all who knew and loved her.

A Celebration of Life gathering for Pat will be held on Sunday, March 23, from 12 to 3 p.m., at The Women’s National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 (corner of Q St.). Please dress as you like and be comfortable. A light lunch, snacks, and beverages will be served in a joyous, conversational, and casual atmosphere as Pat would have it.

Never one to waste (she donated her body to science, not ceremony), Pat would wish, in lieu of flowers or any material honor, that donations be made to:
-Peace Corps Alumnae Foundation for Philippine Development, https://rpcvphilippines.org/
-Northwest Neighbors Village, https://www.nnvdc.org/ or
-National Peace Corps Association, https://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/more-ways-to-give/.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Mar. 15, 2025.

Harold Freeman

On Thursday, March 13, 2025, HAROLD FREEMAN of Silver Spring, MD, died. Beloved husband of 60 years to the love of his life, the late Roberta Nathanson “Bobbi” Freeman. Devoted father of Lisa (Thomas) Tragert and Mark (Alla Malone) Freeman. Loving grandfather of Emily (Steele Sternberg) and Alexander (Taylor) Tragert, Gregory (Elizabeth) Freeman and Grace (Matthew) Fulton. Cherished great-grandfather of Liam and Josephine Freeman and Oliver Fulton. Dear uncle of Ronee (Eugene) Weissman. He was predeceased by his brother, Jonas (the late Marion) Freeman. Harold adored and was proud of them all.

He earned his Doctoral Degree in International Education from Stanford University. His career included teaching high school as well as Army and Peace Corps service. In addition, he worked as a Foreign Service Officer under the U.S. Foreign Aid Program. He lived with his family in six countries and performed short-term consultancies in over 20 others, improving and expanding their educational systems. Harold retired as a member of the Senior Foreign Service.

Funeral service and interment private. Memorial contributions may be made to the Malala Fund, https://malala.org. Arrangements entrusted to TORCHINSKY HEBREW FUNERAL HOME, 202-541-1001.
Published by The Washington Post on Mar. 14, 2025.

Roy A. Stacy

Roy Addison Stacy passed from this world at his home in Brittany, France in the early morning hours of March 10, 2025.  Roy felt that timing, just as in comedy, was of great importance in his life.  And Roy was adept at seeing and seizing the opportunities that timing would offer him.  Roy went from teenage delinquency to the U.S. Air Force and then on to Ventura Community College, UC Santa Barbara, George Washington University and Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and ultimately to a career of diplomatic service.  He began this career as a Junior Training Officer in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and 24 years later, he retired with the rank of Career Minister from the U.S. State Department.  A former USAID colleague remembers Roy as an “extraordinary person who had an extraordinary life and career”.  Roy had indeed contributed to establishing a world in Sub-Saharan Africa that was more resilient, better educated and increasingly ready to participate with the developed countries as an equal partner.

Born in San Diego, California, in 1937; Roy enjoyed the first 12 years of his life just blocks from Waikiki Beach, in Honolulu, Hawaii.  He would later describe this period of his life in his memoir as ideal.  But the ideal was not to last.  A change in family circumstances brought him and his mother back to Oxnard, California in 1949.

Early on, Roy was an uninterested student.  After graduating from Oxnard Union High School in 1955, he engaged in a summer of teenage escapades with friends.  But his behavior finally caught up with him.  Roy was informed by several local police officers that he had a choice between joining a branch of the U.S. military or being arrested and prosecuted on numerous misdemeanors charges.  If convicted; he would have found himself, a seventeen-year-old, with a long sentence in a reformatory.  Roy wisely chose the U.S. Air Force.

It was during his time in the Air Force where Roy began to understand that he could learn and that by learning efficiently, there were Air Force rewards to be achieved and enjoyed.  As the top graduate from “Jet Aircraft Mechanic School”, the Air Force reward was his choice of any Air Force Base, worldwide, that had an opening for his technical qualifications.  As timing would have it, Oxnard Air Force Base had such an opening.  Roy then happily reported for duty at Oxnard as the base’s newest F-89 Crew Chief.  He was back in Southern California and within sight of the Pacific Ocean.

In 1959, Roy decided to forego an Air Force career.  He began student life at Ventura Community College and then continued to the University of California, Santa Barbara.  His plan at the time was to go to law school; but Project India would change his path.  Roy learned of Project India through a timely conversation with a UCSB classmate.   He was intrigued by the project; so, he signed up for interviews. The project had 14 students from three University of California campuses travel to India to interact with their Indian student counterparts.  The Indian students represented various Indian universities from across the sub-continent.  The interactions brought the students together to exchange ideas on cultural and political issues.  Project India opened the door to diplomacy for Roy and with it, the idea of a Foreign Service career begins.

After finishing his Master’s Degree at George Washington University in 1964, Roy took his initial position with USAID.  (For details on his many USAID postings both in Washington, DC and in Africa; please click here for Roy Stacy’s 1999 interview by Haven North for the Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection, Foreign Assistance Series .)  He retired in 1988 from the U.S. Foreign Service as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa (under Assistant Secretary of State, Chet Crocker and Secretary of State, George Shultz).  However, Roy, a firm believer that retirement was the leading cause of old age, had not retired from diplomacy.  Roy would now begin a twenty-year long second career in international diplomacy.  His first position was at the World Bank’s Africa Region and later as seconded World Bank staff to the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA), he then went on to be Director of the Club du Sahel, OECD, Paris, France and was next the Chief of Party for the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET).  After 2008, he continued making diplomatic contributions with consultancies at the Carter Center, the United Nation Agencies:  Food and Agriculture (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), Development Program (UNDP).  He ended his consultant postings in 2017.  He then wrote his first book, “A Delinquent’s Detour” at the age of 82.

A former FEWS NET colleague recently said, “Roy caught all the right moments at just the right time by utilizing his approachable personality, networking skills and intellect.”  Roy truly wanted to participate in having this world’s people be better educated, better fed and more informed to make decisions for themselves, their families and their countries.  For all of us who knew him, it was our honor and our privilege.  He was not a perfect man but he was most definitively a good man.  He is missed.

Roy cherished African Proverbs for their use of clear phrases to get to the heart of an idea.  Here is one of his favorites from West Africa, “The first best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago.  The second-best time is NOW.”  He is survived by his wife, Jana Charters; two sons from a previous marriage, Ross Stacy and Christopher Stacy and a grandson.

Roy L. Prosterman

Roy Prosterman, who fought poverty through land rights, dies at 89.  By Emily Langer, The Washington Post, 7 March 2025

Roy L. Prosterman, a lawyer who abandoned a lucrative corporate practice in the 1960s and dedicated the rest of his life to a campaign against global poverty, founding and leading a nongovernmental organization that helped millions of agricultural workers around the world secure legal rights to the land they farmed, died Feb. 27 at his home in Seattle. He was 89.  His death was announced by Landesa, his Seattle-based NGO, formerly known as the Rural Development Institute. He had Parkinson’s disease, said Tim Hanstad, his co-founder and a former law student.

Roy L. Prosterman — the initial L did not stand for anything — was born in Chicago on July 13, 1935. His father, a businessman, was a Jewish immigrant from the Soviet Union, and his mother was American.  Mr. Prosterman, an only child, was academically successful from a young age and received a Ford Foundation scholarship to study at the University of Chicago. He graduated in 1954, when his peers were completing high school, and received his Harvard law degree in 1958.

Mr. Prosterman worked for six years in New York for the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell before joining the University of Washington, where he taught property, antitrust and international investment law.  Mr. Prosterman was never married — he said he was “married” to his work — and had no immediate survivors.  After abandoning a career at a white-shoe law firm in the 1960s, he helped lead a movement to secure land rights for impoverished people around the world.

Mr. Prosterman embarked on his legal career with a pedigree that would have earned the envy of most any aspiring corporate attorney. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago at 18, then graduated from Harvard Law School and landed a job at a white-shoe firm in New York City. A prosperous future awaited him.

But as Mr. Prosterman traveled abroad for his work — in particular to Liberia, where his firm was retained to work on a railroad contract — he was deeply affected by the destitution he witnessed.  “It seemed overwhelming, but it seemed that we could not leave things that way,” he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2003. “I do believe in the solvability of even very complex problems. That’s also a reason why law was seen as a right sort of discipline for me. It was oriented toward solving problems.”

Mr. Prosterman left his job at the firm in 1965 to become a law professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. A law review article piqued his interest in land reform, a term used in legal and policy parlance to describe the transfer of land rights, often from large, wealthy landowners to poorly paid laborers.  Land reform was at the time a roiling issue in Latin America, where approximately 90 percent of all land belonged to 10 percent of owners, and where Marxist movements called for confiscating land from the rich and redistributing it to the poor.

Mr. Prosterman agreed with many analysts that landlessness was one of the causes at the root of international poverty. But he considered confiscation a “very dumb way” of addressing the problem, one that came with a grave risk of fomenting civil war.  He laid out another approach in an article that appeared in the Washington Law Review in 1966 under the title “Land Reform in Latin America: How to Have a Revolution Without a Revolution.”

“The view that land reform should be carried out with less-than-full compensation of the landlords must be discarded because it will not work, or will not work without an unacceptably high risk of bloody conflict in its implementation,” he wrote.  Instead, he proposed that land reform offer owners “compensation sufficiently full and adequate to disarm the opposition … of any effective arguments, except perhaps the residual, and politically unappealing, argument that they would lose the brute power represented by the land and the dwellers upon it.”

The article, according to Landesa, attracted the notice of U.S. policymakers focused on the Vietnam War. Mr. Prosterman was hired as a consultant for a study commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development on land reform in Vietnam, where he conducted extensive research that included interviewing farmers in rice paddies.  He argued that South Vietnam, which was pitted in the war against communist North Vietnam, was losing the support of its population in large part because of economic insecurity.

Mr. Prosterman played a key role in designing the “land to the tiller” program that was enacted by South Vietnam in 1970 and gave 1 million tenant-farmer households ownership of the land they worked.  He told the New York Times years later that the effects of the “land to the tiller” program were twofold: rice production increased by 30 percent, and recruitment by pro-communist Vietcong guerrillas fell from a range of 3,500 to 7,000 men per month to 1,000 per month.  South Vietnam ultimately lost the war. But “land to the tiller” — described by President Richard M. Nixon in 1973 as “one of the most ambitious and far-reaching land distribution programs undertaken by any country in recent times” — helped gather support for land reform efforts elsewhere.

Although he spent decades of his life obtaining land rights for others, he chose never to purchase real estate for himself, in large part because he traveled so frequently. He lived in a rented apartment in Seattle and described himself, kiddingly, as a “landless laborer.”

This is a shortened version of the WAPO obituary, click here to see the full article.

Barbara Stumpf Adams

In Loving Memory of Barbara Stumpf Adams
October 3, 1951 – February 17, 2025

Barbara Stumpf Adams passed away peacefully on the morning of February 17, 2025. Though her passing was quiet, she was surrounded in spirit by the love of her family and friends, who will carry her memory forward with gratitude for the life she lived and the impact she made.

Born on October 3, 1951, in Springfield, Ohio, Barbara was the only daughter of Ellen and Robert Stumpf. Her early years took her from Springfield to Rome, NY and Framingham, MA, before settling in the Washington DC area. She attended George Marshall High School and later Bridgewater College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English. A year studying abroad in Strasbourg, France, ignited her love for French language and culture, making her bilingual for much of her life.

She began her career teaching 8th grade English in Warrenton, VA, before transitioning to the Defense Communications Agency, where she met David R. Adams. They married in 1977 and welcomed two sons, Robert (Ben) and Greg, in 1980 and 1983. As a Foreign Service wife supporting David’s career at the United Nations and USAID, she lived abroad in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and Guatemala City, where she taught kindergarten at Colegio Maya.

In 1991, she and her family returned from Guatemala to Herndon, VA, where she taught French to students from kindergarten through 8th grade at Nysmith School. After her divorce in 1994, she pursued a Master’s degree from the University of Virginia and went on to teach 8th grade English at Herndon and Rachel Carson Middle Schools until her retirement in 2015. Over 42 years in education, she touched the lives of countless students and colleagues, inspiring a love of literature, poetry, and the importance of proper grammar. She believed words had power, stories had meaning, and every student had a voice worth hearing.

Above all, Barbara was a devoted and loving mother to her two sons. She poured her heart into giving them a childhood every kid dreams of, and shaped them into empathetic, morally grounded men who strive to do the same for their children.

In early 2020, Barbara was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia with primary progressive aphasia, a cruel disease that gradually robbed her of her ability to find words, to express herself, and, ultimately, to speak. For a lifelong English teacher who spent decades instilling in others a love for language, this loss was particularly devastating. Even as words failed her, her warmth, wit, and kindness endured.

She faced her illness with grace and courage, moving first to Independent Living at Harmony in Chantilly, then to Independent and Assisted Living at BrightView Fair Oaks. Throughout her illness, she was surrounded by the unwavering support of her wonderful and loyal friends Sue Woodruff and Jean Silverwood who visited often and took her to countless outings and doctor’s appointments, and her dear cousin David Stumpf who made many trips from Ohio to help her move and ease her transition to full-time care.

Barbara was also dedicated to advancing scientific research, much like her father, Robert Stumpf, who was a participant in the landmark Framingham Heart Study. Inspired by his contribution and motivated by her desire to spare others her same fate, Barbara took part in a two-year Phase 3 double-blind, placebo-controlled study for a drug aimed at delaying or even halting the onset of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Accompanied by her rotating care team—her sons and her dear friends Sue and Jean—she traveled monthly to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, contributing invaluable data to a study that will help future patients live longer, fuller lives.

She is survived by her two sons, Ben and Greg, her daughters-in-law, Crystal and Rachel, and her four cherished grandchildren, Jackson (13), Max (10), Mia (8), and Owen (6), of Aldie and Clifton VA. She also leaves behind her nieces and nephews Ryan, Tyler, Tifani, and Cody Adams; Paige Stumpf Caven; Rick and Adam Stumpf; Greg Rogers; Carrie McGuire and Lindsay Henderson, as well as her grand-nieces and nephews Hazel, Evelyn and Keith Adams and Ella Poston; James, Declan, and Maddie Caven; and Morgan, Megan, and Nick Stumpf; and a great-grandnephew Easton Krebehenne.

Her legacy lives on in the generations of students she inspired, the stories she shared, and the family and friends she loved deeply. A celebration of her life is planned at Adams-Green Funeral Home in Herndon, VA on Sunday March 9 with visitation at 10am and a service at 11am, and a reception to follow at a nearby venue. Her ashes will be interred at the Chestnut Grove Cemetery in Herndon, VA at a later date.

Donations can be made in her memory to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration https://www.theaftd.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/ or the Johns Hopkins University Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences (https://secure.jhu.edu/form/psych

Derek Staughton Singer

Derek Staughton Singer, 95, a retired USAID Foreign Service officer, died on Dec. 24, 2024, near Washington, D.C.  Born on Staten Island, N.Y., in 1929, Mr. Singer was a second-generation American.

Long interested in international affairs, he attended graduate school at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he met his wife, Ruth.

Mr. Singer joined USAID in 1954, serving as CARE country director in Bolivia. He was then assigned to the Mutual Security Mission to China in Taiwan, and from there to Japan. In 1958 he was transferred to Costa Rica.  He was then asked to help open the USAID mission in the Congo. This assignment lasted only five months and, as Singer noted in his oral history with the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, “was largely spent ducking bullets, because of the civil war in that country.”

Upon return from the ex-Belgian Congo in 1961, Mr. Singer left USAID to work with the fledgling Peace Corps. After exploring and negotiating the first Peace Corps programs in South America, he was named country director in Bolivia, where he had earlier served with CARE, and then to Indonesia for a short stint before the looming civil war there forced the program to close.

After training in Washington, Mr. Singer became Peace Corps country director in Tunisia until 1966, when he resigned from the Peace Corps  (and the government).  He went on to work in the private sector for the next 15 years, including a long stint in the Chicago area with PBS station WTTW.

In 1980 Mr. Singer rejoined USAID. He was first assigned to Zaire, where he served for four years, and subsequently served in Kenya, Ecuador, and Cameroon. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1994.

The Singers raised their children around the world: Their daughter, Vicky, was born in Bolivia; son Alex in Taiwan; and their last boys, Ted and Jason, in the U.S. in between postings.  Along the way, Mr. Singer learned to speak Spanish and French, and he even took up studying Russian after receiving his PhD in political science.

Together with Ms. Singer, he acted in community theater productions overseas and enjoyed spontaneous and often belabored puns and wordplay. He developed a pleasure in birdwatching and continued his enjoyment of classical music and world affairs until late in life.

Friends and family remember Mr. Singer as a quiet man who often didn’t express his emotions in words. Yet, as they recall, his actions spoke volumes as he supported the world’s underclass and his children’s and grandchildren’s pursuits.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2025

John J. Gaudet

Nancy Louise Raubitschek

Nancy Louise Raubitschek, beloved mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully on January 6, 2025, in Fairfax, VA at the age of 81.

Born on August 6, 1943, Nancy spent her childhood in Dover, NH before moving to the Washington, DC area where she lived most of her adult life. She built a career as a secretary and paralegal for the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Agency for International Development, Mobil Oil Corporation, and the Arlington Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Nancy was a devoted and active mother. She found joy in playing tennis and loved spending time at the beach, particularly in Ocean City, MD and Vero Beach, FL.  Nancy is survived by her daughter, Dr. Tamara Pringle; her son, Jeffrey Raubitschek; and three grandchildren, Mercer, Jason, and Camden Pringle. Nancy was preceded in death by her parents, Florence Castoras Gradeless and Henry Joseph Lanouette, as well as her former spouse, John Hugh Raubitschek.

Nancy was interred at Columbia Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, VA on January 28, 2025.  To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The Washington Post on Feb. 9, 2025.

Gordon Haughwout West

Although he was taken from us too soon at age 77, Gordon Haughwout West lived an incredibly full life without regrets, defined by purpose and meaning. On January 26th, 2025, Gordon passed away peacefully in his sleep after a hard-fought battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. He remained healthy and active throughout his later years until a more pronounced decline in his final year of life. He leaves behind a legacy of hope, love, and humanitarianism. Gordon worked hard and played hard, with a remarkable strength of character that enabled him to remain committed to the core values he held most dear: family, friendship, generosity, helping others, and adventure. He left this world a better place and enriched the lives of many. His good will carries on, as do the fond memories of him we cherish in our hearts.

Gordon was born in Oak Park, Illinois on August 15th, 1947 to Wynant and Dorothy West. He grew up in a large and loving family with siblings Barbara, Donald, Norman, and Nancy. In addition to family; religion, music, and sports were defining aspects of his youth, shaping Gordon’s sense of spirituality, community, and adventure. After graduating from Wheaton High School, Gordon studied Industrial Engineering at Purdue University and worked as an engineer for Dow Chemical. Following an intuition that would lay a solid foundation for his future career, Gordon then attended the University of California, Berkeley and obtained a Master’s degree in Urban Planning.

Gordon’s vision for life began to crystallize when he decided to join the Peace Corps, the government volunteer agency for international development. He spent three years in Fiji volunteering on civil engineering and construction projects, which was a turning point in his life that firmly shaped his belief in helping others. His spirit of adventure was also able to shine through brightly, living on a boat for three years where he later fondly recounted stories of hurricanes, sharks, giant clams, and festive nights partying and celebrating life the Fijiian way. Little did he know at that time that his career would eventually take him across much of the globe. Gordon’s knack for recognizing and bringing out the best in people gave him a deep appreciation for the many cultures he experienced and an ability to connect with just about anyone.

After Fiji, joining the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was a natural next step for Gordon, who was first stationed as a Foreign Service Officer in Dhaka, Bangladesh. While visiting Thailand on summer break, Gordon was introduced by a long-time friend Henry (“Hank”) Merrill to the love of his life and future wife, Kanha (“Noi”) Cheyapanta, who at the time was working as a language instructor for USAID in Bangkok. Gordon and Noi married in Thailand on May 11th, 1979 and remained happily married, lovingly devoted companions for the 45 years that followed. Together they had two sons: Gavin Haughwout West in 1982 and Benjamin Kasem West in 1985. Gordon was adored by his family and possessed so many traits that made him a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather – patience, humor, and wisdom among them.

Following his marriage to Noi, Gordon moved back to Chicago to help his brother Don with an entrepreneurial pursuit before rejoining USAID, an agency he served proudly for 28 years on behalf of the American people to build a better, safer, and more just world. Gordon loved his country, believed in democracy, and cared deeply about uplifting the less fortunate and those in need. His overseas assignments included Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines before serving as Mission Director in both Cambodia and during a second tour in Bangladesh. In Washington DC, he served as the director of Economic Restructuring of Eastern Europe from 1991-1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Deputy Assistant Administrator (Asia and Near East Bureau) from 2001-2004, and Senior Reconstruction and Stabilization Advisor from 2004-2005 with focus on Afghanistan and Iraq. Gordon retired from the federal government in 2005 and received the Administrator’s Award for Distinguished Career Service. His first retirement was short-lived as he felt the pull to join RTI International in Indonesia to lead their Democratic Reform Support Program for five years, followed by three years as their Vice President of International Development in Washington, D.C.

After Gordon’s second retirement, he continued on his path volunteering as the president of the neighborhood association as well as a devoted volunteer of the Shepherd’s Center of Northern Virginia, helping to drive and assist the elderly. He also rediscovered his love of music through singing for the Fairfax Jubil-Aires chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. With a sailor’s spirit, Gordon fought Alzheimer’s as best as he could. He taped Albert Einstein’s quote “once you stop learning you start dying” to his wall and continued to pursue his hobbies and volunteer activities to the best of his abilities. He relished time spent with friends and family and was especially grateful for his wife Noi, who cared for him at home for as long as she could until December 2024 when his condition required professional care and medical support. While physically gone, Gordon’s zest for life, love, and generosity continue living in all of us that he touched.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Obituary published on Legacy.com by Money and King Funeral Home and Cremation Services on Jan. 29, 2025.