The Foreign Service Journal, June 2011

68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 1 1 College of the Holy Cross in Worces- ter, Mass., and graduated with a B.A. in economics after three years. Im- mediately thereafter, he joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to Stan- ford University to study the Italian language and European history. While at Stanford, he met his fut- ure wife, Joan Gross, of Denver, Colo., a Phi Beta Kappa student at Mills College in Oakland. Despite growing fluency in Italian, Mr. Mc- Cusker served in India during World War II. Honorably discharged in 1946, he decided against a Foreign Service ca- reer, although he had passed the writ- ten examination, in favor of obtaining a law degree from Cornell Law School. In 1948, he married Joan, re- ceived his law degree from Cornell and was admitted to practice in New York in 1949. Because he had won a Fulbright fel- lowship to do research on the Italian legal system for a year, the McCuskers sailed off to Rome. There, toward the end of his Fulbright studies, Embassy Rome, aware of his background in both Italian and American law, arranged to offer him a post as a legal officer. In that capacity, he assisted Ameri- can citizens with claims against Italy under the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 for property losses resulting from World War II. After a year as deputy agent of the United States before the Italian-United States Conciliation Commission, he was named secretary of the commission and legal consult- ant to the body’s one American mem- ber. During his six-year sojourn in Rome, Mr. McCusker became a ca- reer Foreign Service officer, earned a doctoral degree in Italian law from the University of Rome and lectured in Italian throughout Italy on com- parative political-legal topics. The couple’s first two children, Karen and Mary, were born in Rome. Transferred to the Department of State in Washington in 1955, Mr. Mc- Cusker discovered — as he put it at the time —what it was like to be a bu- reaucrat rather than a diplomat. He nonetheless became an expert in in- ternational judicial assistance and the functions of consular officers. His next posting was to Hamburg, where he was chief of the consular section and then of the economic and com- mercial section. The couple’s son Paul Alexander was born there. In 1963 Mr. McCusker was named to the U.S. delegation to the Vienna conference on the multilateral Con- vention on Consular Relations, which was adopted that same year. In 1965, the family moved to Jakarta, where Mr. McCusker was counselor of economic affairs. His tenure included the 1965-1966 period of political upheaval, when embassy families were evacuated and Presi- dent Sukarno was eased out of power by Suharto. During this assignment, Mr. McCusker’s fourth child, Ian Francis, was born in Penang. Mr. McCusker left the Foreign Service to join the United Nations in 1969. He was with the U.N. for 13 years, including a stint with the United Nations International Devel- opment Organization in Vienna from 1973 to 1976. He and his family were residents of Pelham, N.Y., during the years of his service with the U.N. Sec- retariat. He retired from the position of director of professional recruitment services at the U.N. Secretariat in 1982. After leaving the United Nations, Mr. McCusker practiced law with the New York law firm of Garrity, Con- nolly, Lewis, Lowry & Grimes. As ad- junct professor at Long Island University, he also taught a course on public international law to graduate students. In 1993, Mr. McCusker withdrew from what had become the law firm of Garrity & McCusker, but contin- ued to do pro bono legal work. He also translated a book, The Popes: His- tories and Secrets by Claudio Rend- ina, from Italian into English. In 1999, the McCuskers moved to Durham, N.C. They loved their adopted home and were active in cul- tural groups in the community. Mr. McCusker continued to teach courses in international law at the Duke Insti- tute for Learning in Retirement and work on estates and wills until just a few years ago. Fluent in several lan- guages, he was a lover of classical music, particularly opera, and an adept bridge player. In 1985, his youngest son, Ian Fran- cis, died tragically in an accident play- ing Frisbee at Georgetown University, where he was a freshman. Mr. McCusker leaves three chil- dren: Karen McCusker of Chevry, France, Mary McCusker McLough- ney of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Paul Alexander McCusker of Maconnex, France; five grandchildren, Claire McCusker, Tessa and Rory McLough- ney, and Daniel and Samuel Mc- Cusker Alvarez; and two step-grand- children, Daragh and Niamh Mc- Loughney of Dublin, Ireland. Memorial donations to the schol- arship fund set up for Ian at George- town University are welcome. Please send them to: Georgetown University Office of Advancement, Attn: Jessica Perlman, 2115Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20007. I N M E M O R Y