The Foreign Service Journal, February 2011

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 81 Colo., Mr. Lesher served in the U.S. Army and then joined the Foreign Service. His postings included the Netherlands (where he met his wife), Cameroon and Canada. He left the Foreign Service to join the Department of Housing and Urban Development. There, as a sen- ior officer, he helped create thousands of homes for low-income families. In retirement, he succeeded in real estate investment. Mr. Lesher is survived by his wife of 51 years, Helena “Lillan” Buisma Lesher; a son, Carl; a daughter, Elisa- beth Lesher Miles; a son-in-law, David Miles; granddaughters, Laura and Claire Miles; and four siblings. David Anthony Macuk , 79, a re- tired Foreign Service officer, died on Nov. 6, 2010, at his home in Bethesda, Md., after a long illness with multiple sclerosis. Mr. Macuk was born in Paterson, N.J., in 1931 to Ukrainian and German immigrant parents. He was proud of his heritage and of working as “a ditchdigger, busboy and baker” to help fund his studies at New York Univer- sity and, later, the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, where he earned degrees in political science and eco- nomics. Beginning in 1952, he served in the U.S. Army in Japan and then joined the Foreign Service in 1956. During a 30-year career as an FSO, Mr. Macuk served at sensitive posts in Europe, South Asia, Canada and Africa. His first post was as a visa-issu- ing officer in Germany. There he met and married Ute Ilg Macuk. After continuing language and area training at the University of California, Berke- ley, he served as assistant commercial attaché in Karachi and as American consul in Peshawar during a particu- larly difficult period in the Tribal Fron- tier area of Pakistan. As a political officer in Ottawa he reported on the relationships between the Canadian Parliament and the U.S. Congress. His love of nature prompted him to take the initiative on cleanup ideas for the Great Lakes region, for which he was commended by the ambassador. He then served as special assistant to the ambassador in Bonn for narcotic affairs. Following this, he was the State Department representative at the NATO Defense College in Rome. In Nairobi, Mr. Macuk was the chief of mission for the United Nations Envi- ronmental and Habitat Program. His final post, as a political officer in Geneva, brought him full circle, work- ing again on critical Afghan-Pakistani issues. It was during this posting that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In l983, Mr. Macuk left the Foreign Service to, as he put it at the time, “spend more time in the continental United States.” He began a new ca- reer in the U.S. Civil Service, starting with a year at the Federal Communi- cations Commission. For the next decade, he enjoyed service with the National Telecommunications & In- formation Administration in the De- partment of Commerce, until the progression of his MS required his final retirement from government service in 1993. With a rich variety of duties and senior responsibilities throughout his career, Mr. Macuk gained high-level recognition within the U.S. govern- ment and in other countries. In May l991, the Federal Republic of Ger- many honored him with its “Verdien- stkreuz amBande,” an award signed by the German president, for his “tireless engagement with the German Em- bassy in Washington and its govern- ment in Bonn, in furthering American/ German relations” — especially on telecommunication issues and, above all, in critical trade negotiations then of high concern to both governments. Friends and family recall Mr. Macuk’s commitment to serving his country, his devotion to his family and his love and pride in his children, each with careers of their own that were en- riched by their parents’ distinguished accomplishments in public service. He took great delight in his grandchildren and continued his storytelling tradition by writing and illustrating historical fic- tion books for them. Mr. Macuk is survived by his wife Ute of Bethesda, Md.; two sons, Steve Macuk of Olympia, Wash., and John Macuk of Norwood, Mass.; three daughters, Carolyn Ibici of Silver Spring, Md., Suzanne Macuk of Durham, N.C., and Christina Macuk of Los Angeles, Calif.; and six grand- children. Joan Louise Gross McCusker , 86, the wife of retired FSO Paul D. McCusker, died on Sept. 5 in Durham, N.C., after a brief illness. Mrs. McCusker was born on July 22, 1924, in Denver, Colo. She was the youngest of three daughters of Frances Morris Gross and Eli Mann Gross, a labor union organizer on behalf of coal-miners who went on to become commissioner of parks for the city and county of Denver and, later, general manager of Elitches Gardens amuse- ment park. A graduate of East Denver High School, Mrs. McCusker attendedMills College in Oakland, Calif. In 1948, I N M E M O R Y