76 MARCH 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL offices, Eastern Europe, and the Near East when he retired in 1997. After retirement, Mr. and Ms. Kunze settled in Buchanan, Va. Over the next 26 years, they lovingly renovated their 19thcentury home, cultivating a welcoming space for hosting family and friends. Mr. Kunze’s love of nature, classical music, culinary pursuits—including gardening, foraging, and canning—and the companionship of his dogs defined his retirement years. Mr. Kunze’s gentle demeanor, kindness, and generosity endeared him to all who knew him. The family extends heartfelt appreciation to the friends, family members, and neighbors who have reached out, sent messages and care packages, and offered their support during this challenging time. He is survived by his wife, Amparo Kunze; three children, Erik Werner Kunze, Emily Allison Kunze, and Katia Maria Kunze; and his brother, Donald Charles Kunze (and spouse Eleanor Smith). He was predeceased by Bessie Church, Hattie Meyers, Otto Kunze, and Muriel Johnson. A memorial service to honor Mr. Kunze’s legacy will be announced by the family at a later date. Condolences and other communications can be sent to kurtkkunze@gmail.com. n André J. Navez, 89, a retired Foreign Service officer, died in his sleep on Nov. 7, 2023, at his home in Hopkinton, Mass. Mr. Navez’s parents were Belgian. His father, Dr. Albert E. Navez, came to the United States after World War I in the first group of Commission for Relief in Belgium Fellows, spent 10 years at Harvard, and later was on the faculty of Boston University. He was Belgian consul in New England for many years. Mr. Navez was born in Cambridge, Mass., and graduated from Milton Academy, Harvard College, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and the National War College. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Thule Air Base in Greenland for 16 months and was an antiaircraft artillery battery commander in Belmont, Mass. In 1960 Mr. Navez entered the Foreign Service as a political officer. Over the next 25 years, he was posted in Vientiane; Stanleyville and Bukavu in the Congo; Fort Lamy; Brussels; Addis Ababa; Djibouti; and in Washington, D.C., where he had assignments in the Executive Secretariat, Bureau of Personnel and Bureau of African Affairs, and on detail to NASA’s Office of International Affairs. After retiring in 1985, Mr. Navez returned to an old farmhouse that had belonged to his parents in Hopkinton, Mass. He expanded and modernized the house, doing much of the construction himself, cleared and planted fields and gardens, raised sheep and chickens, and grew vegetables. He also volunteered on numerous town and private organization committees and boards with a focus on land and ecological preservation. He was especially happy to arrange to preserve the 48 acres of his property from development by giving most of the land to the state as a wildlife sanctuary abutting the Upton State Forest and protecting the remaining six acres around the house and gardens with a conservation restriction. In retirement he pursued a lifelong interest in the natural world, antique cartography, birding, and foreign travel. Mr. Navez is survived by his beloved wife, Christine R. Whittaker, who was a British civil servant and became a lawyer and Episcopal priest after immigrating to the United States. His first wife, Judith L. Grapperhaus, died in 1992 after 29 years of marriage. There are no children from either marriage. Consistent with his beliefs and wishes, there were no religious services. He donated his body to medical research and the education of future physicians. Memorial donations may be made to Sudbury Valley Trustees, 18 Wolbach Road, Sudbury MA 01776. n André Peter de Nesnera, 72, a retired Foreign Service officer with Voice of America, died at home on Dec. 25, 2023, of complications from Parkinson’s disease and long-term Guillain-Barré syndrome. Born in Paris on Oct. 5, 1951, Mr. de Nesnera immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1954 and became a U.S. citizen at the height of the Vietnam War in 1972, when he was eligible to be drafted. He received a B.A. in journalism from Fordham University, also in 1972, and an M.A. in international relations with a specialization in Soviet studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1977. He was fluent in French and Russian. In the 1970s, Mr. de Nesnera worked as a French interpreter for the State Department’s Visitor Escort Program. In 1972 he was hired as a desk assistant at CBS News in New York. In 1980 Mr. de Nesnera began working for the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., as a general assignments editor and reporter, occasionally filling in at the White House, Capitol Hill, the State Department, and the Pentagon. In 1984 he was named bureau chief of VOA’s new Geneva bureau where, with his fluency in French and Russian, he covered OPEC and the U.S.-Soviet arms talks. Popular, highly regarded, and known by everyone from high-ranking U.N. diplomats to security guards, he was soon elected president of the United Nations Press Association by his colleagues, who
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