John “Jack” Wellington MacDonald, retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, died November 25, 2020, in Austin, Texas, at the age of 91.
Mr. Macdonald was born on November 14, 1929, in Grand Forks,North Dakota. He served in the U.S. Army before earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Dakota in 1953. He worked on Capitol Hill from 1953 to 1955, while taking courses at Georgetown University Graduate School and Law School. He worked for Prudential Insurance from 1955 to 1957 in New York City, then returned to Washington, D.C., where he joined USAID.
Overseas assignments for Mr. Macdonald included Lagos, Nigeria, in 1966; Saigon, Vietnam, in 1969; Tunis,Tunisia, in 1970; Damascus, Syria; Beirut, Lebanon; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; and Baku, Azerbaijan. In Washington, he was a USAID international trade specialist in 1971; a capital resources development officer in 1974; and a special management administration program assistant in 1976.
After retiring in 1980, Mr. Macdonald moved to Easton, Maryland, where he was an active sailor, single-handing his 33-foot Swiftsure sloop until he was 80. He did volunteer work at the hospital, church, and library and sold antiques in Easton. He also ran a portrait group at the Easton Academy of Art for 15 years and was a member of the English-Speaking Union, the Commonwealth Society, and various art groups. Following his move to Austin, Texas, in 2006, Mr. Macdonald joined the Austin Yacht Club and ran open studio art classes at the Austin Museum of Art.
Mr. Macdonald was predeceased by his brother Neil, his first wife Alexandra, his son John Dimitri, and his grandson, John Daniel. He is survived by his former wife Marie, his sister Edith Anderson; his daughter Pam (John) Halter; grandchildren Kristin, Neil, Madeline, and Katherine; and his great-granddaughter Annabelle.
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