Archive | 2019

Richard Charles Kriegel, Jr.  was born on April 19, 1923 in an apple orchard farm in Yakima, Washington and died peacefully in his sleep April 21, 2019. His parents were Richard Charles Kriegel and Hortense DeWitt Kriegel. His formal education included the Madrona and Gasfield High Schools in Seattle, Washington, the University of Washington, U.S. Marine Corps V-12 program with sponsorship of the U.S. GI Bill. Additionally, he graduated from the U.S. Industrial College of the Armed Forces as a Distinguished Graduate in the class of 1969.

He volunteered for military service in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942 while he was living on a small dairy farm near Seattle. He was selected for the Marine Corps Officer Candidate program; received combat and education training, and graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant May 4, 1945. His early military experience included one year of occupation in Japan, and service in the Marine Honor Guard at President Roosevelt’s funeral in Hyde Park, N.Y.

He graduated from the University of Washington in June, 1948, and spent six months as a national executive candidate with Proctor and Gamble and six months as an executive sales candidate with the Texas Oil Company. His career with the U.S. Government was resumed when the Marine Corps drafted him for service during the Korean War. He spent his next thirty years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Agency for International Development in various capacities.

His military service included several months at the Marine Corps Headquarters doing basic documentary research for a history of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and researching and writing a history of the Philippine Marine Corps and six articles for the Marine Corps Gazette. His published books included “Labor in East Pakistan”, 1959, “A History of the Marine Corps Reserve”, 1966, and a “Saga of the Philippine Marine Corps”, 1970.

His service with the CIA included covert intelligence operations and paramilitary activities training Chinese guerilla units among others.

His USAID service as a Rural Development Deputy included developing a major program of Philippine Governmental Assistance. He also spent two years as a project manager of a fifty million dollars typhoon recovery program that included building 1500 school buildings – mostly in rural areas. His assignments in Vietnam included duty as the USAID Provincial Advisor in Binh Dinh, Vietnam coordinating with both the provincial government and the Army of Vietnam, and military advisor to the II Corps. In addition, he was designated as a senior advisor to the Vieng Tao Rural Training Program by the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam. Bien Dinh was a focal point of Viet Cong occupation and he was involved in various military exercises there. He was personally decorated by the President of the Government of Vietnam (GVN) in the field for his activities and bravery. These awards included both the Medal of Honor, 1st Class GVN in 1967, and the Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, GVN in 1965.

After returning to the United States, Kriegel moved to Florida and later to Northern Virginia. His six children were born to his first wife Lorraine Mavis Kriegel and are Robert Vivian, Jamie Dee, Richard Charles, Timothy DeWitt, Janice CoraMae, and Bruce Whitney. Following the death of Lorraine in 1983, and he married Helen Swinnerton January 31, 1987 and enjoyed his remaining years in retirement.

John Sanbrailo passed away at his home in Vienna, VA. on April 20. Longtime USAID Mission Director in several Latin American countries, he also served for 18 years as the Executive Director of the Pan American Development Foundation.

Beloved husband of Cecilia Sanbrailo; brother of Lynn Sedleski (Walter) and uncle and godfather of Mark Sedleski. Family and friends are invited to John’s Life Celebration at Money and King Funeral Home, 171 W. Maple Ave., Vienna, VA on Sunday, April 28 from 1 to 4 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church, 8601 Wolftrap Rd., Vienna, VA on Monday, April 29 at 10 a.m. Interment in San Francisco, CA. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Our Lady of Good Counsel or the USAID Alumni Association or to the American Liver Association.

For complete obituary information, click here.*

Allan Pitcher, 94, a U.S. Agency for International Development civil engineer who worked in West Africa for 22 years, died March 24 at a hospital in Washington. The cause was a heart attack, said a nephew, Chris Darnell.

Mr. Pitcher, a District resident, was born in Lynn, Mass., and settled in the Washington area after retiring from USAID in 1977. In retirement, he spent 37 years as a docent at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s insect zoo.

Charlie Bliss (101) passed away in Springfield, VA on May 22, 2019 after a short illness.  Family and friends were nearby.  His Memorial Service was held May 26th, attended by numerous USAID Alumni and their spouses.  His family received many condolences from USAID friends, both American and FSNs from around the world.

Charlie was a centenarian who was associated with USAID, both inside and outside the agency, since its formation in 1961. He worked on USAID projects with major US engineering and consulting firms in the 60s and 70s in Nigeria, Colombia, and the Philippines, before joining USAID’s Office of Energy in the early 1980s. He also served in USAID/Pakistan before retiring from the Agency in 1991.

He continued to provide infrastructure and engineering consultancy services up until his death, being recognized by The Cooper Union College in New York as winner of its Gano Dunn Award for achievements in engineering.  Charlie’s profile was featured in the April 2018 UAA newsletter and posted on the UAA website. His life was also spotlighted in the past year by CBS Evening News in one of its specials on the oldest American ever to be awarded a U.S. patent at the age of 100.

On June 18, 2019, John Archer Lundgren (“Johnny” to family and “Jack” to his recent friends) died at age 87 from Myelodysplastic Syndrome. He was born Trenton, MO, and grew up in Chicago, IL. He was the son of a Swedish immigrant father and mother of mixed Welsh, Irish and Scottish ancestry. Perhaps it was his Viking and Highlands heritage that sent him on his adventurous life. He met his wife, Leonella Beatrice de Baca-Baros, a Native American of Apache, Navajo, Spanish and Portuguese lineage when he was living in Delia, New Mexico.  He attended college and ROTC in Pueblo, Colorado. He earned a Doctorate of Letters in Paris, France, and a black belt in Judo in Wambrechies, France.

John served over 30 years in US Army (Reserve) and was assigned in his active duty military career to a phantom intelligence unit in France in the late 1950s, responsible for intelligence gathering duties.  He retired from theArmy as a bird Colonel, missing promotion to General because he had not had a major command post being a solo operator for most of his career.

John served over 30 years with USAID with assignments to Ecuador, Guatemala, Senegal, Togo, Chad and Djibouti. One close friend said:  “[John] was an astute, multi-lingual and dedicated Foreign Service Officer with a talent for connecting with Africans at all levels, whether it be the country President or a poor farmer.

After retirement from USAID, John succeeded as a theatre and film actor, even performing in commercials. John had a strong one-of-a-kind personality that was characterized by his integrity, a wonderful sense of humor, and a strong sense of fairness and racial equality. Unconventional and a non-conformist, he was a controller of conversations and enjoyed being center stage and the main act.   One friend commented that he was “an alien on earth – funny, wise, thoughtful and thought provoking, a great story teller.” Another said that “he was a maverick, and more.” He was a mentor to many. He was passionate and compassionate despite his antics. He adopted stray cats and lived among them for several years. His favorite topics of conversation were movies, trivia or the doom of man under the guise of religion. His favorite quote was from Voltaire’s Candide that explained that everything in life happens for the best in the best of all possible worlds.  John published a book/screenplay “The Rape of Lucrece” a rework of William Shakespeare’s poem.   John was an avid actor and performer and his credits can be viewed on IMBD.  Memorials in his name can be sent to any the following organizations: 1. Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential at www.gcapp.com; 2. Health Education Assessment & Leadership at www.healilngourcommunities.org; and 3. Atlanta Animal Rescue Friends atwww.aarfatlanta.com.

Ernest Stern (always known as Ernie) was a dominant figure at the World Bank for two decades. He was that rare individual: a clever economist, who was also a superb manager. As an economist, he was penetrating and pragmatic. As a manager, he was decisive and demanding. As a human being, he was wise and witty. He was simply unforgettable.

Stern, who has died aged 85, described himself as: “a reasonably bright guy and a reasonably good manager, and a reasonably good thinker. I get to the heart of issues quickly. I’m a good analyst, not theoretically but practically. I think I can judge what is feasible.” This was modest, but correct.

He was brought into the World Bank by then chief economist Hollis Chenery in 1972, to help manage the bank’s economics complex. Robert McNamara, president of the bank from 1968 to 1981 soon noticed his effectiveness, appointing him vice-president of the South Asia office in 1975 and putting him in charge of the first World Development Report.

In 1980, he became senior vice-president of operations, the most powerful staff position at the bank. He served under AW Clausen, former head of Bank of America, and then under Barber Conable. Conable imposed a chaotic reorganisation at the bank in 1987. In his contribution to its oral history, Stern comments wryly: “Mr Conable once was heard to say . . . that he had to reorganise the World Bank to get rid of Ernie Stern. A strange compliment.”

Stern was moved to the finance division in 1987, until Lew Preston, a former CEO of JPMorgan, became president in 1991. Then he was appointed one of three managing directors, reassuming his dominant role. He served as acting president after Preston’s death in 1995 and retired shortly after.

Stern was born in Frankfurt to Jewish parents. His father was in the metal trade. Not long after, the family moved to the Netherlands, in order to escape the Nazis. In 1940, after the German occupation, they were sent to Bergen Belsen via the Westerbork transit camp. They survived partly because his father managed to obtain a Honduran passport in 1943.

Stern said of this trauma: “It definitely helped to reinforce the view that very few things are permanent. I don’t take stability for granted.” In 1947, just 14 years old, he was sent to the US on his own to live with an uncle. In 1948 the rest of the family joined him.

He was educated at Queens College in New York and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he studied economics, receiving his PhD in 1967. He served briefly in the US army and then joined the US Agency for International Development in 1959, serving in Turkey, India and Pakistan. In 1971, he served in the White House Council on International Economic Policy.

During Stern’s era, the World Bank was far and away the world’s most influential multilateral development agency. While the role of the private sector as a source of funding was growing, the bank and its affiliate the International Development Association remained the principal sources of long-term development finance, especially for poorer countries.

Stern was the main promoter of structural adjustment lending in the 1980s. It was, he decided, impossible to do good projects in bad environments. The bank had to focus on policies, too — the debt crises of the 1980s made this more urgent. So lending shifted towards supporting policy reform, and power moved from project specialists to economists.

Inevitably, these changes created controversy. Stern insisted that adjustment lending was closely linked to poverty alleviation, because most developing countries imposed heavy implicit taxes on farmers, via distorted prices. He was proud, too, of the bank’s role in reorganising extension services for agriculture.

After leaving the World Bank, Stern was a managing director at JPMorgan (later JPMorgan Chase), focusing on relations with emerging countries. In 2002, he joined The Rohatyn Group, retiring in 2011. Nicolas Rohatyn, the group’s founder, describes him as “our éminence grise”. Stern was a member of the Group of 30, an international body of leading financiers and academics, and was associated with the Institute for International Finance and the Center for Global Development.

He died after a long illness. He is survived by his beloved wife, Zina.

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Warren Carl Putman who served with USAID from 1962 to 1965 (St. Lucia and South Korea) and again from 1979-1986 (Somalia and Washington, D.C.).  Put passed away on July 21, 2019, but he would not want you to mourn him, instead he would prefer that you celebrate his life and grab every opportunity that comes your way.

Born in Woodhaven, New York on December 24, 1925, Put, grew up along the East Coast. His family settled in Lambertville, New Jersey for his high school years.  He joined the Navy at 17 to become a pilot but was told there were enough pilots in the program.  Instead they sent him to Williams College to become an officer.  Impatient to join World War II, he decided to get himself expelled by breaking windows. Then the Navy sent him to submarine school in New London, CT.  About to board a train to begin his deployment to the Pacific, he and a couple of other mates were selected to spend the rest of the war selling war bonds on the recently captured German submarine, the U505.  He received an Honorable Discharge from the Navy Submarine Service in 1946.  Put’s memorabilia from his time on the U505 was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where the submarine is housed.

Returning to civilian life, Put first attended Mohawk College. He then transferred to Rutgers University and obtained his B.Sc. in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in 1950. Following graduation, he used his GI bill to go to France to attend the Sorbonne for a year and to travel extensively around Europe. There he observed the Marshall Plan. This fueled his interest in international development. Returning to the U.S., he put his college training to use and managed several farms which raised Shetland ponies, quarter horses or purebred Angus cattle in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, often for absentee owners. These farms competed in major livestock shows in the U.S., Cuba and the Dominican Republic (DR). He also established a purebred Angus breeding herd in Cuba and sold Thoroughbred race horses there and in the DR.

Put’s first assignment with USAID was in St. Lucia. His final overseas assignment was in Somalia and he retired out of the Asia Bureau in Washington, D.C. During his overseas career, he worked both for USAID as well as for several contractors. He took time off twice to run his own businesses, including Ramier Estate in St. Lucia where he raised tropical flowers, vegetables, tree crops, forage and sheep. Much of his career focused on livestock development and some general agricultural development. He continued consulting after retirement. In 1995, he moved to a 230 acre tree farm in rural West Virginia where he bred and sold Boykin Spaniels. The last of the family’s dogs, Loyenge, now resides in Tennessee.

Put was an avid hunter, deep sea fisherman, skier, sailor, and general outdoorsman. He was a great story teller and some of these can be found in his self-published book—Put’s Tales. One of Put’s more memorable experiences was a ten-day trek on foot across northern Tanzania when he helped a Maasai pal move a herd of cattle. He traveled with only water, a local “thimbo” and a rifle.

Put lost his wife Patricia, who accompanied him on all his long-term assignments, in 1994 after 42 years of marriage. He has been together since 1995 with Dorothy Carlson, who survives him. He is also survived by a son, Duncan (and his wife Jeanette Dickerson-Putman), two daughters, Diana (and her husband Adam Messer) and Alexandra.  He has three granddaughters: Kristen Corl, Bridget Laubacker, and Clarissa Messer and one great granddaughter, Claire Corl.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Journey Hospice (314 South Wells St Sistersville, WV 26175—they cannot accept donations online; Ph: 304.447.2464; hospice@sistersvillegeneral.com); the St. Lucia National Trust (https://www.slunatrust.org/ in memoriam to Warren Putman and in honor of Dan Floissac; or to a charity of your choice that works in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Tanzania or Somalia, or to Heifer International.

A celebration of Put’s life event will be held this fall in Washington, D.C.  If you wish to be invited notify Diana Putman.

Gerald (“Gerry”) Anthony Cashion passed away peacefully July 27, 2019 at his home in Venice, Florida, after a courageous battle with peripheral vascular disease and leukemia.  His daughter, Dylan and son, Fitz were by his side throughout his illness until the end.

Gerry was born January 7, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of John Bernard and Cicely (Delany) Cashion.  He graduated from Loyola University in 1965 with a B.A. in English Literature and Political Science.  In 1984 he received a PhD in African Folklore from Indiana University. In 1965 Gerry began his development career with Peace Corps Sierra Leone as a rural development volunteer and in 1967 he met and married fellow volunteer Barbara Warren. The couple returned to Chicago in 1968, where Gerry became a stock broker with Dean Witter & Co.  In the mid-1970s, the pull of Africa led him and Barbara to enroll at Indiana University to pursue doctoral degrees in African studies and they were both awarded grants to do research in Mali.

Splitting time between the village of Kabaya and Bamako, Gerry quickly absorbed Malian culture and languages.  His unique understanding of rural life garnered USAID/Mali’s attention and he so impressed Mission staff with a social soundness analysis that he was immediately hired as the Mission anthropologist.  In 1985, his performance led to a direct hire offer as project development officer and social science analyst in the Africa Bureau.

Gerry subsequently served with USAID/Nigeria, the USAID Regional Development Office for the Caribbean in Barbados, as USAID/Washington desk officer for Madagascar and in the Africa Bureau’s Development Planning Office.  In 1995, Gerry and family returned overseas to USAID/Morocco and in 1999 he was assigned to the Regional USAID Office (REDSO/ESA) in Kenya to direct the design and implementation of complex transition programs for southern Sudan, Somalia and Burundi.

In 2001, Gerry was named Deputy Regional Director for REDSO/ESA, leading to his promotion to the Senior Foreign Service in 2003.  He then was assigned to Botswana as Director for USAID’s Regional Center for Southern Africa (RCSA) until his retirement in 2006. Gerry continued to serve under temporary appointments in 2007 and 2008, as Mission Director in USAID/East Timor and Madagascar, respectively.

Gerry was a colorful, larger-than-life personality.  He had an uncanny gift for memorizing names, remembering them even months after a first meeting.  “There’s nothing sweeter than hearing your name on the lips of another person,” he’d say.  He was generous in spirit and loved entertaining friends and family, holding court, laughing, throwing out thought-provoking questions and telling stories.

He reveled in his Irish ancestry.  He once said of a friend’s sister, who’d just lost her husband of 45 years: “She’s a lucky woman, she is!”  When asked how he could possibly say that, given her recent loss, Gerry replied, with a twinkle in his eye: “Well, for 45 years she was married to a PhD anthropologist and an Irishman!  You can’t get any luckier than that!”  Gerry was also known to enjoy a wee dram of spirits, once performing a lively Irish jig on top of a table at the Irish Ball in Nairobi.

Gerry was a lifelong sailor, spending his happiest moments on the sea helming his O’Day 28, Irish Wake.  He had an encyclopedic knowledge of sailing, knowing a well-trimmed mainsail from an over-trimmed one, sensing the subtle shifts of wind and currents and plotting a course accordingly.  He invited friends to the Caribbean to compete in the Heineken Regatta and was an active officer and member of the Venice Sailing Squadron, racing with his son, Fitz.

Gerry was ever curious and interested in myriad things.  He loved classical jazz, the blues, and 1950s rock and roll.  He played harmonica, guitar and drums.  For years he donned a heavy Santa suit (even in Africa) and delighted children as jolly St. Nick. He had a keen eye for West African art, amassing a fine collection.  He accumulated several model square rigger ships, displaying them in glass cases around his home, along with nautically-themed oil paintings. Above all, Gerry collected friends:  a gregarious Irishman to the end.

Gerry Cashion is survived by his wife of 52 years, Barbara Cashion, of Aberdeen, Washington; a daughter, Dylan Cashion, and a son, Fitzgerald Cashion of Venice, Florida, and a brother, John B. (Mary Ann) Cashion of Chicago, Illinois.  A celebration of life will be held at a future date, to be announced.  A memorial website has been set up to celebrate Gerry’s life at www.forevermissed.com/gerry-cashion. Contributions may be made to organizations dedicated to helping the people of Mali: African Sky (Africansky.org) ECOVA Mali (Ecovamali.org) and Muso (Musohealth.org). All who have memories of Gerry that you would like to share, can do so at: Gerry Cashion’s memorial website

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.*

On Saturday, July 6, 2019, Arthur Lezin, 90, died at his home in Bend, Oregon. Arthur was born on October 8, 1928 in Los Angeles, California and was educated at Reed College, earning a BA in Economics in 1950, and Harvard University, where he took a sabbatical from his work with the U.S. Agency for International Development to pursue a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government in 1982.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Arthur worked as a diamond salesman in Zurich, Switzerland, where he met his wife, Alice. They were married on May 4, 1962 and raised three children– Nicole, Katya and Ben– while living on five continents and over ten countries. Arthur and Alice retired to Bend, Oregon, where Arthur was able to pursue his passion for fly fishing, replaced in recent years with games of bridge and Boggle.

He was also an avid photographer and prolific writer, publishing multiple articles and two books: From Afghanistan to Zaire, a collection of essays and photographs from his travels and work overseas and A Case of Loyalty, a memoir about his father’s successful battle to clear his name following his discharge from the U.S. Navy in the height of McCarthyism. Arthur was known and beloved for his quick wit and unparalleled way of recounting stories and jokes.

He was a lifelong Democrat who did not suffer fools lightly, making for a few awkward dinners on cruises he and Alice enjoyed in their retirement. He derived great enjoyment from his weekly Thursday lunch group, his reading (with a special fondness for well-written memoirs and mysteries), his children and grandchildren, and most of all, his wife of fifty-seven years, whom he loved and admired beyond measure. He is survived by his wife, Alice, his children Nicole (Rusty), Katya (David), and Ben (Celine), and his grandchildren Noah, Hannah, Eliza and Theo.