Timothy Graham Alexander, age 65, grew up in Cincinnati, OH and dreamed of traveling the world and engaging with diverse cultures and people. He died at home in Potomac, MD on August 6, 2019 having met his goal as a Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He lived and worked in Bahrain, Malawi, Thailand, Indonesia, Egypt, Armenia, Lebanon, and Afghanistan before retiring in 2016.
As a young man, he received a Bachelor of Urban Planning from the University of Cincinnati and launched his international career as a UN Volunteer in Bahrain before earning a Masters of Regional Planning and International Development from Syracuse University. As a development consultant for Management Systems International, he travelled throughout Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific Islands, learning the ropes on projects as diverse as rural development in Mauritania to fisheries in Fiji. After joining USAID in 1989 as an urban planning officer, he was proud to represent the United States and work with local governments to develop infrastructure and clean water and foster democracy and governance, including in conflict zones. He built close bonds to local colleagues who noted his sincerity, good humor, and respect for their career development.
He met his wife Vickie in Jakarta in 1991 and they traveled the world together, experiencing different cultures through food and photography while maintaining a home base in Potomac. He loved film, martial arts, Southeast Asian culture, Buddhist and Islamic architecture, and classical and world music, particularly Indonesian gamelan and Indian santoor. Having learned golf near the Pyramids of Egypt, golf was his passion in retirement. He preferred public courses throughout Montgomery County, MD because he enjoyed engaging in conversation with golfers from all walks of life.
After his cancer diagnosis in fall 2018, he participated in a Johns Hopkins-Sibley Memorial Hospital immunotherapy clinical trial, knowing that lessons gained from his experience could help others. He was preceded in death by his parents Melville and Roselle Alexander and is survived by his wife Vickie Alexander, his twin Pamela Alexander (Robert Kurz), sisters Deborah Alexander (Ralph Mercer) and Robin Alexander Staggs (Rod Staggs), parents-in-law Michael and Marjorie Alaimo, sister-in-law Julie Alaimo, seven nieces and nephews, and five grand-nieces and nephews.*
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