Sidney Schmukler died peacefully at home in McLean, Virginia on May 24, 2017 at the age of 97. Sidney had a distinguished career as an economist and Foreign Service Officer.
He was born on June 30, 1919 to Banit and Bessie Virnik Schmukler in New York City. He attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn and earned his BA in economics at Brooklyn College. He received his MA and PhD (1947) in economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943-1946, rising to the rank of Captain in the Supply Corps, stationed in Persia.
After three years as a professor of economics at the University of Connecticut and Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa), Sidney joined the Department of State as a civil servant in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research and subsequently the Bureau for Economic and Business Affairs, specializing in East and Southeast Asian development. He joined the Foreign Service in 1961, when the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was established, serving as the Deputy Director of the USAID Mission and First Economic Secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Peru and then as Associate Coordinator of the Alliance for Progess at USAID. In 1968, Sidney was detailed to the new InterAmerican Development Bank, where he held the position of Deputy Manager of the Operations Department for South America. He retired from that position in 1984 and went on to lend his knowledge and skill to a non-governmental organization, Esquel, that pursued development in Latin America as well as to other non-profit and civic organizations.
Sidney lived a life of meaning and purpose. He was devoted to his family and dedicated to making the world a better place. He often spoke of being inspired by his Army service to be involved in work that would improve the lives of those on distant continents. He valued learning and read and traveled widely. He was generous, beloved by his family and friends and admired by his co-workers.
Sidney is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Clarine (nee Shapiro) daughter, Joan Schmukler Atherton; son, Laurence Schmukler (Mariana Pardo) and son, Philip Harris (Erica Dunn). Together with his wife Clarine, Sidney was a founding member of Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia.*
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