Archive | 2017

Herb Morris passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday, March 27, 2017, after a long illness. He had been a resident of Washington, DC since 1957. He was born April 11, 1926, in New Haven, CT, the last child of Gertrude and Max Morris. He is survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Michele, (nee Rottiers); loving children, Valerie Gaine (David) of Owings Mills, MD and Donald of San Diego, CA; as well as his grand-daughters, Taylor and Paige Morris.

After graduating from New Haven High School, Herb served in the U.S. Army in Europe from 1944 to 1946. He earned his B.A. from Yale College (1950) and his LL.B from Yale Law School (1953). He clerked for U.S. District Judge J. Joseph Smith, was a Teaching Fellow at Stanford University Law School and devoted the rest of his career to government service as an attorney in the Departments of Justice, Civil Appellate Section, (1957 – 1963) and State, Agency for International Development, (1963 – 1996). Member of the Senior Executive Service since 1995, he retired as Deputy General Counsel of A.I.D.

He enjoyed reading, listening to classical music, playing tennis, following the Red Sox, and birding on four continents. He visited many parts of the world during his working years and in retirement.

Numerous family members and friends on both sides of the Atlantic will remember him as a true loyal and principled person, kind, caring, generous and often humorous. He was an excellent advocate, who could argue skillfully and passionately and yet always remained open-minded and fair.

His final resting place will be at Arlington National Cemetery and a memorial gathering will occur at that point, later this year.

Deane R. Hinton, a career diplomat who served as U.S. envoy to five nations, most notably El Salvador in the early 1980s, where he presided over an embassy protected by sandbag gun emplacements amid civil war, died March 28 at his home in Escazú, Costa Rica. He was 94.

The cause was kidney infection and failure, said a son-in-law, Eric Chenoweth.

Mr. Hinton joined the Foreign Service in 1946, ascended to the rank of career ambassador and became known, journalist Christopher Dickey once wrote in Newsweek magazine, as “America’s closest approximation to the Roman Empire’s troubleshooting proconsuls.”

Mr. Hinton held his first ambassadorship under President Gerald R. Ford, serving as representative to what was then Zaire, where President Mobutu Sese Seko expelled him for an alleged assassination conspiracy. “Total nonsense,” Mr. Hinton said. “If I’d been out to get him, he’d have been dead.”

President Ronald Reagan selected Mr. Hinton to serve as ambassador to Pakistan and Costa Rica. President George H.W. Bush sent him to Panama in 1990, shortly after the U.S. invasion that removed President Manuel Antonio Noriega from power.

Mr. Hinton drew widest notice during his tenure in El Salvador, where he served from 1981 to 1983, and where he succeeded Robert E. White. White, serving under President Jimmy Carter, had aggressively denounced killings carried out by the Salvadoran military and its supporters.

Mr. Hinton generally voiced support for Reagan’s policy of providing substantial economic and military assistance to the ruling junta in its fight against leftist guerrillas. But in 1982, speaking in Spanish before the U.S.-Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce in San Salvador, he delivered a rebuke of the Salvadoran government, condemning political killings and kidnappings that he described as associated with “some elements of the security forces.” He compared rightist “gorillas” to leftist guerrillas.

“Every day we receive new reports of disappearances under tragic circumstances,” he said, in remarks uncharacteristically outspoken for an ambassador. “American citizens in El Salvador have been among the murdered, among the ‘disappeared.’ Is it any wonder that much of the world is predisposed to believe the worst of a system which almost never brings to justice either those who perpetrate these acts or those who order them?”

He said that if the Salvadoran government did not improve on human rights — a condition for the U.S. aid that in 1982 amounted to more than $230 million — “the United States, in spite of our other interests, in spite of our commitment in the struggle against communism, could be forced to deny assistance to El Salvador.”

The speech was a bombshell in El Salvador, where the Chamber of Commerce and Industry declared the ambassador’s remarks “appropriate to a delegate of the Roman Empire before a conquered people.” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said publicly that Mr. Hinton’s “statements do represent United States policy,” but an unnamed administration official told the New York Times shortly after Mr. Hinton’s address that “the decibel level had risen higher than our policy has allowed in the past.”

Interviewed later by The Washington Post, Mr. Hinton acknowledged that his speech represented a departure from the “quiet diplomacy” advocated by Reagan. “But there is provision for exception,” he added. “I decided the time had come to go public.”

In January 1983, Reagan certified sufficient progress in human rights for El Salvador to continue receiving aid. “Any president or any administration that thinks it would be a disaster if this country was taken over by a totalitarian Marxist regime is going to hesitate a long time and the evidence would have to be very strong before he decides not to certify,” Mr. Hinton said.

By April 1983, Mr. Hinton said that he was “weary” of the job. The next month, the administration announced that Mr. Hinton would be replaced. The post eventually went to Thomas R. Pickering, later ambassador to nations including Israel and Russia. Mr. Hinton retired in 1994.

Deane Roesch Hinton was born in Missoula, Mont., on March 12, 1923. He received a bachelor’s degree in social studies and economics from the University of Chicago in 1943 and served in the Army Signal Corps in North Africa and Italy during World War II.

His Foreign Service appointments including postings in Syria, Kenya, France and Belgium. In Guatemala and Chile, he oversaw USAID programs. In between ambassadorships, he served as U.S. representative to the European Union and assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs. He was the author of a memoir, “Economics and Diplomacy” (2015).

His first marriage, to Angela Peyraud, ended in divorce. His second wife, Miren de Aretxabala, whom he married in 1971, died in 1979.

Paul Guedet, 78, was born and raised in Merced, California. Following high school, he served two years as a US Marine. Upon return, he earned a BA and an MBA from Chico State in California. He later obtained a second masters degree from MIT.

After a brief stint in the shipping industry, Paul spent 30 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development serving in Uganda, Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, and Botswana. Paul was known for his sharp analytical mind, his ability to cut through red tape and his commitment to his American and host country colleagues. He was an outstanding officer and representative of his country, rising to the rank of Senior Foreign Service. Paul retired from USAID in 1994.

Paul married the love of his life, Laurie Mailloux, also a Foreign Service Officer, in 1979. Paul and Laurie were totally devoted to one another all of their married lives. They retired to Vashon Island, WA in 1999.

Paul had a great sense of humor and enjoyed life to its fullest. Paul aimed for quality in everything he undertook, devoting the time and effort needed to achieve it. He boxed, skied, hunted, and played rugby and squash. In the era when hunting was legal, he hunted all the major game in Africa, later donating these trophies to the Burke Museum the University of Washington. In his career he won awards for his professionalism and productivity. His commitment to excellence did not abate in his 35-year struggle to lead a normal life despite his Parkinson’s disease. Paul’s courage, tenacity and refusal to complain as he faced this dreadful disease struck awe in all who knew him. Certainly nothing interfered with his commitment to being the best husband and friend to those he loved and who loved him.

Paul died at his home on Vashon Island April 16, 2017.

Donor M. Lion, a distinguished Career Minister in the Senior Foreign Service at the United States Agency for International Development, died peacefully in McLean, VA, with his wife by his side, on April 22, 2017, eleven days shy of his 93^rd birthday.

Donor will be remembered for his trademark bowtie and pipe, fierce intellect, dry sense of humor, and his kind, gentle, and loving ways. He was admired and respected by his colleagues, especially those whom he mentored over the years. However, the love of his family and their accomplishments were his greatest source of satisfaction, pride, and joy.

Donor was born on May 3, 1924 in New York City, the eldest of three sons. His parents gave him his unusual name because they wanted him to be a giver. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School, as President of the Senior Class. He earned his A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.A. from the University of Buffalo, all in economics. Donor’s first foray into the U.S. government’s foreign assistance program began in Oslo, Norway in 1952 where he helped to implement the Marshall Plan. Two years later, he joined the private sector as an economic consultant, spending three years at Robert R. Nathan Associates in Washington, DC and five years at Booz Allen Hamilton in Chicago. A former Marshall Plan colleague recruited him in 1962 to join the United States Agency for International Development. His parents’ hopes and dreams would be fulfilled.

Donor began his USAID career in Brazil in support of the Alliance for Progress, starting out in Rio de Janeiro for two years and then serving five years in Recife. He was the first person to hold dual roles as Director of USAID’s Northeast Brazil Mission and the U.S. Embassy’s Consul General. His mandate was to help develop Brazil’s most impoverished region by providing assistance in education, agriculture, health, and infrastructure. He returned to Washington, DC in 1971 to attend the year-long Senior Seminar, a coveted Department of State program whose participants were chosen because of their demonstrated potential for executive leadership positions in the government. Donor spent the next five years in several senior positions in Washington in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, ultimately rising to the top position of Acting Assistant Administrator. In 1977, he moved to Jamaica, again serving in a unique dual capacity as USAID Mission Director and the U.S. Embassy’s Economic Counselor. Here he concentrated on economic policy, health, family planning, education, and agriculture. Over the next ten years (1979 – 1989), he was the USAID Mission Director in Guyana, Pakistan, and Peru, with a year (1985 – 1986) in Washington as USAID’s Chief Economist. He retired from USAID in July 1989 after a distinguished career and numerous awards and accolades.

For the next five years, Donor did development consulting work both domestically and abroad with, for example, the Ministry of Finance in Hungary and the Ministry of Agriculture in the Dominican Republic.  He was an adjunct professor in the Economics Department at American University in Washington DC where he taught a popular seminar on Development Assistance. In 1994, Donor and the family moved to Bangkok where his wife, Linda, served as USAID Mission Director to Thailand. He enjoyed his numerous assignments with the United Nations Development Program, Thailand’s National Institute for Development Administration, and Thommasat University. He also contributed articles on development as a guest writer for the local newspaper.

Donor fully retired in 1996 and actively pursued his passions – vegetable gardening, tournament bridge, ping pong, golf, and gourmet cooking. He finally succeeded in getting his wife to retire from USAID in 2002 so that they could enjoy life together, spend time with their girls and their families, and take long trips to countries including Turkey, Vietnam, Russia, Eastern Europe, Ireland, Egypt, Jordan, and Canada.

Donor is survived by his wife and best friend of 39 years, Linda N. Lion nee Kranetz; daughters, Ann Lion (Marc Luoma), Kristin Lion Torres (Juan Pablo), and Karin Lion (Bonnie Levin); granddaughters, Sara Coleman Hernandez (Phil), Ali Coleman, and Mia Lion Torres; sisters-in-law, Barbara Kranetz Green and Jo Lechay Lion; nieces, Jaime Green Roberts (Jeff), Jenny Lion (Steven Matheson), and Angel Lion; and nephew, Jason Green (Tovah). He was preceded in death by his parents, David and Anna Holstein Lion; daughter, Amy Lion; brothers, Paul and Eugene Lion; and former wife, Elizabeth Kennedy Lion.

A private family burial will be held at King David Memorial Gardens in Falls Church, VA on May 3, 2017, Donor’s birthday. The burial will be followed by a Celebration of Life service at 11:00 am at National Funeral Home in Falls Church, VA, and a feijoada lunch to honor, remember, and celebrate Donor’s seven very gratifying years of service in Rio de Janiero and Recife, Brazil.

For those who have asked, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Donor’s name to the Louis August Jonas Foundation in New York. In 1930, the Foundation established and still operates Camp Rising Sun, an international leadership program for young adults where Donor spent four very meaningful summers.

On May 7, USAID alumna Charline Ann Reeves passed away. She was born on July 31, 1941, to Charles and Elizabeth Ensor Reeves. She grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she may have astonished her folks by working at the Highlander Center, a pioneering social justice institution, and attended the University of Tennessee, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

After graduation, Charline joined the Peace Corps, which sent her to Afghanistan. There she was assigned to work with staff at the Afghan national airline, Ariana (known locally as “Scariana”). In 1966, she went to Vietnam as a secretary with the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she spent four sometimes exciting years. She must have liked international development, because she made USAID her career for the next 30 years. Her work ethic, common sense, and honesty were so greatly valued by her supervisors and colleagues that she was sent to Syracuse University for a multi-month training program to convert from secretarial work to professional. Thereafter she was a prized member of the high-stress USAID budget office, with occasional work trips to Africa.

Charline retired in 2006. In 1984, she met the love of her life, Bradley Turner. They became devoted partners, and, in 2005, they married. Charline and Brad had a dozen splendid years together as husband and wife, until her death.

Charline is survived by her devoted husband Brad; her brothers Charles and James (Mary); her nephews Clay, Aaron, and Chip; and many, many friends. A memorial service will be held at Macedonia Baptist Church, 3412 22nd St. S, Arlington, VA, 22204, on Thursday, May 25, 2017, at noon.

Jerry Kieffer died March 22, 2017 at home surrounded by family and others who loved him. Born May 5, 1923, raised in Minneapolis, MN, he was the beloved husband (68 years) of Fran; father of Edith, Charles (Meg) and Philip (Claudia); grandfather of Aaron, Daniel, Alisa and Erika; great-grandfather of Caleb and Raymond.

After WWII Pacific service, he graduated from University of Minnesota (BA, PhD). His lifetime of public service included Executive Director, National Cultural Center (Kennedy Center) and positions in the Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations, including Asst. Admin. AID and Deputy Commissioner, Social Security Administration. During his time in USAID in the early 1970s, he was Director of the Office of International Training and then Assistant Administrator for Population and Humanitarian Assistance.  He also served as Board Chair, Senior Employment Resources, President, Fairfax Alliance for Human Services, and Board member of the Fairfax Symphony.

He loved telling stories and wrote books and articles on government organization, productive aging and public transportation. He and Fran shared their love of family, friends, community, music, reading and nature.

On Thursday afternoon, May 25th, Gary Bryan Alphonse Bisson of Winchester, Virginia died peacefully from complications of pancreatic cancer at his home on the campus of Shenandoah Valley’s Westminister-Canterbury.  Gary was born in Gorham, New Hampshire on June 28, 1936, the younger of two sons born to Antonio (Tony) Bisson and his wife, Alice (Philippon).  He attended local schools, graduated from the University of New Hampshire and earned two law degrees from George Washington University, an LLB (now referred to as a JD) and an LLM in Government Contracting.

For more than 50 years, Gary worked for the Federal Government or with organizations serving U.S. interests here and abroad, beginning with a part-time job at the Library of Congress’s Central Reading Desk during law school.  He then became the Smithsonian Institution’s first in-house attorney with responsibilities for legislation and contracting.  When the Office of General Counsel was inaugurated in 1964, he was named one of two Assistant General Counsels.  Gary’s tenure during the 1960s coincided with a decade of extensive growth for the Institution.  He drafted legislation creating the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Air & Space Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, a major expansion of the National Zoo, and several other unique facilities for what is America’s most iconic museum group. Following were almost seven years with his family in Asia as Assistant General Counsel in Taipei and Bangkok for CIA’s proprietary corporation, Air America, and its affiliated entities, traveling almost constantly to negotiate and administer the company’s military and civilian contracts in Vietnam and neighboring countries.  As the last of the lawyers in the field, he was instrumental in closing down the entire Southeast Asian operation following the fall of Saigon.  His vast collection of records, files and memorabilia is available among the CAT/Air America archives at the University of Texas @ Dallas’s History of Aviation Collection in the Eugene McDermott Library.

Gary’s Federal service concluded with 20 years of assignments within the General Counsel’s office of the Agency for International Development (USAID).  International postings included Kenya, Swaziland, and Indonesia, all as the Regional Legal Advisor to USAID’s area Mission Directors and staff offices, contracting for and administering Federal grants, cooperative agreements and claims resolutions.  In addition to foreign assignments, he also traveled extensively on temporary assignments, often to remote locations where our U.S. presence was minimal.  When asked recently about projects which had been particularly memorable, he cited drafting the preparatory Executive Order and then serving as attorney for the Sinai Procurement Task Force working under Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s mandate to establish a permanent peacekeeping community in the Sinai Desert following the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  That community became a separate government unit and was one of the critical steps leading to the Camp David Accords.  Another unusual effort was as principal negotiator and USAID representative for the government’s delegation working with industry representatives to negotiate a funding agreement for a U.S.-South Pacific Tuna Treaty governing international maritime fishing law.  Also among his most significant accomplishments was drafting/negotiating a series of economic agreements which established the first U.S. assistance programs in Cambodia, Mongolia, Mozambique and Fiji.  In 1994, he retired from USAID as a member of the Senior Foreign Service.  Upon completion of his U.S. Government career, Gary’s passports reflected residence in or professional travel to 37 different countries as small as the Seychelles and Fiji to as large as South Africa and Egypt.

In 1994, Gary then began a private law practice in Arlington, VA, specializing in development law, always in the field of government contracts, advising corporate and academic clients contracted, usually by USAID, to implement foreign assistance programs, primarily in Asia and Africa.  He retired from private practice in 2006.   For almost 10 years, Gary served as Corporate Secretary and most recently as Vice Chair on the Board for Medical Care Development, Inc., an international health care non-profit based in Augusta, ME.  He was a 50+ year member of the Virginia Bar Association and, during Federal Service, he held a District of Columbia Bar Association membership.  He had also served for some years on the Board of Directors of USAID’s Lafayette Federal Credit Union (Kensington, MD).  Gary was an active member of the Air America Association, DACOR, Inc. (Diplomats & Consular Officers Retired), UAA (USAID Alumni Association), and AFIO (Association of Former Intelligence Officers).  Since he and his wife moved to Shenandoah Valley Westminster-Canterbury from Arlington in 2010, Gary has chaired the committee which publishes an annual History project, has served on the Residents’ Association Nominating Committee and has corralled SVWC’s golfers for their weekly rounds at nearby Rock Harbor Golf Course.  And he was an enthusiastic participant with SVWC friends in weekly poker and pool groups, too.

Gary Bisson was a humble man, admired by his colleagues for his professional integrity and good counsel, a steadfast and loyal friend who was full of patience and wit.  He cherished his wife of almost 57 years, Ellen (Knowles), and was a loving father and grandfather to Mark (Arlington, VA), Todd and Dante (both of Los Angeles).  Older brother, Barry, predeceased him in May 2016.  He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Marie, nieces Gigi and Mimi and nephew Tony, all of California, along with his many Bisson and Philippon relatives throughout New England.  In addition to being devoted to his family, Gary was a proud member of the Red Sox Nation his entire life.  Go Sox!

A remembrance celebration service is being planned for later in the summer.  The family suggests that gifts in Gary’s memory would be deeply appreciated by George Washington University Law School/Government Procurement Law Program (2000 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052).

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.*

John Cole Cool, who passed away on April 6, 2017, was born in 1936 Ohio, the son of Mary Louise (nee Cole) a high school teacher and social worker and William Leslie Irvin Cool an engineer. He was raised in the small steel town of Beaver in western Pennsylvania.

Cool was an American diplomat, anthropologist, international development agent, philanthropist, and a naval officer, with a career spanning 55 years, 4 continents, 10 countries and had a meaningful positive impact on a great swath of the world’s population. He served in the U.S. Navy at the end of WW II, the Department of the Interior in Samoa, the State Department (USAID) in Laos, Nepal, and India, the Ford Foundation in India, Pakistan and the Philippines, the Agricultural Development Council and Winrock International in Nepal and Thailand and the Aga Khan Foundation in Pakistan.

Early in 1961, John accepted an assignment in the Kingdom of Nepal as USOM’s (soon to become USAID) Chief of Village Development. In this role, he was deeply committed to building participatory development by combining democratic institutions with the traditional Nepali Panchayat system of governance. He worked at the national level with His Majesty’s Government to plan and establish a broad program of self-help development through more than 3700 elected village councils (panchayats) and 75 district councils. While doing this, he also managed the U.S. assistance program in agriculture, forestry, health and population in Nepal and he took a strong interest in and mentored the very first Peace Corps Volunteers in Nepal, guiding their training in cross-cultural understanding and befriending them. Many remained close friends throughout his lifetime.

In 1964, John was appointed Deputy Director of the USAID Mission to Nepal and from 1965 until 1967 he was de facto responsible for overall management of the USAID program. His impact and legacy in Nepal is measurable and felt to this day.

In 1968, John accepted an assignment as the Assistant Director for the USAID Mission to India. Based in New Delhi, he was responsible for U.S. assistance to the Government of India in Population, Labor and Area Development programs. He worked closely with state and national officials to plan and finance rural works and area development activities, introduce spatial planning concepts and settlement strategies, develop infrastructure investment strategies designed to shape settlement patterns and promote human scale urban growth.

In 1970, John left USAID to some degree due to the increasingly political pressures the Nixon administration was introducing into U.S. foreign aid programs worldwide. The Ford Foundation offered him a job immediately and asked him to stay in India where he had built deep respect and friendships within key networks of Indian officials as well as at USAID and at NGOs.

John Cole Cool outlived many of his contemporaries, but his loss is deeply felt by a worldwide network of colleagues and friends in international development whom he inspired and mentored.

He is survived and deeply mourned by Catharine, his wife of 65 years and loving, devoted partner throughout all his overseas assignments and adventures, by his son Jonathan and daughter-in-law Erika, of Great Falls, VA, by his daughter, Jennifer, son, Christopher, daughter-in-law Marita, and grandchildren Kaitlyn and Cameron, of Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Jerry L. Weaver, age 77, of Newark, OH died Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at his residence. His birth was registered, 9 March 1939 in Columbus, Ohio.

Weaver’s adoptive parents, Lee and Martha Weaver, precede in him death. A lifelong agnostic, Weaver had a deep admiration for Islam and Judaism and had many close friends in both communities.

A 1957 Newark High School graduate, he was a three-year class officer, along with his football teammate, Jim Tyrer. While in high school, Weaver joined the 737th Battalion of the Ohio National Guard where he served three years.

Weaver attended Ohio University, where he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees followed by a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. During his academic career, he taught at the University of Texas at Austin, California State University Long Beach and UCLA. He published more than 50 books, monographs and articles. His 1976 book “Health Care and the Underserved” was named “Book of the Year” by the American Nurses Association.

In 1977 Weaver accepted what was supposed to be a one-year assignment as Social Science Analyst with the U.S. State Department. He resigned from UCLA in 1978 and joined the U.S. Foreign Service and was assigned to the USAID Mission to Sudan. He became Refugee Affairs Counselor in 1982.

In 1985, Vice President George Bush presented Weaver with the State Departments’ “Superior Honors” award for designing and leading “Operation Moses”, the clandestine movement of more than 10,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel.

Weaver returned in 1988 to Licking County and began his third career, raising cattle on his “Blue Nile Farm.” He served more than 16 years as a Licking County Parks Commissioner until he resigned in April 2011 after a heated rejection of the unwillingness of the County Commissioners to fund adequately the Park’s budget.