Member Connections

Eunice Büky, 74, of London, UK, on 15 May, 2012, surviving spouse of retiree József Büky.

A funeral mass will be said for her at St John the Baptist in Purley, Surrey starting at 10 am on Thursday, 24th May.

Eunice was active in World Bank Volunteer Services, WIVES and UNICEF in the 1970s and 1980s, including serving as a director of the Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund. She is survived by her daughter Erika.

John J. (Jack) Stewart passed away at age 89 on November 29, 2011. He joined the Bank (IBRD) in 1964 and worked in education until his retirement in 1987 as assistant director of education projects in Europe, Middle East, and North Africa. He is survived by his wife, Mary, and three children and five grandchildren.

Dear all,

There will be a mass for the intention of Mary Lou Gomez on Thursday, December 1 at 8:00 am at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament at 3630 Quesada St., NW, Washngton, DC 20015. There will be a potluck breakfast reception in the Parish Center next door in the lower level. Any volunteers to bring some food will be welcome. In the interest of planning, please let me know:

(i) if you plan to attend
(ii) if you plan to bring some food for the reception

I hope that some members of World Bank Choir can be there, since members of our parish church choir (of which Mary Lou was an active member too) and other friends of Mary Lou are expected to attend.

If there are any other friends (not included in the distribution list above) of Mary Lou that you know, please forward this email to them.

Thank you and hope to see some of you on December 1.

Nery
Lnagy@worldbank.org
mangosing@rcn.com

Hal F. Reynolds 84, of Deer Isle, Maine on May 17, 2011. Mr. Reynolds retired from the Bank in 1977.

U.K. friends gave us the sad news that Alexander Storrar, known as Sandy to his Kenya acquaintances, has recently passed away. I first met Sandy either in 1943 or 1944 when he was a young agricultural officer and I was a very young learner in the Kenya Department of Agriculture. He had come to spend some time with my boss, the Officer in Charge of the Soil Conservation Service. I don’t remember much about that first meeting except for a field trip in Sandy’s car, which had defective brakes and entailed a scary but safe descent down a steep escarpment road! Our paths did not cross again until after my return from college, in 1953, by which time Sandy had become well known for his outstanding work in formulating comprehensive farm plans. His achievements led to promotion to Provincial Agricultural Officer and eventually to Deputy Director of Agriculture. Upon Kenya gaining independence, the British and Kenya Governments developed a plan to buy many of the large farms in the former “White Highlands”, for resettlement by Kenyan smallholders. To ensure that this land transfer would proceed in an orderly fashion, with the land maintaining or even increasing productivity, a new department, the Settlement Department was set up. Sandy Storrar was appointed its first Director. His was a daunting task, entailing the training of staff, to carry out both area and farm planning. With the help of departmental colleagues, the task was successfully completed and he handed over his post to a Kenyan colleague. It was the time when Kenyan officers were replacing expatriate staff. Sandy retired after more than 30 years in Kenya and joined the World Bank. I don’t know too much about his work there, but am very grateful that he put in a kind word when I applied for a job to the Bank. He continued to provide guidance, and together with his lovely wife, Bunny, gave generous hospitality. Both my wife and I extend to her and her family our sincerest condolences and deepest sympathy.

-Gert Stern

The transcript of a World Bank Group Oral History Program interview done with Sandy Storrar may be read here.

Alexander (Sandy) Storrar, who died on Sunday 17 October 2010 age 89, served at the World Bank from 1965-1983.
The funeral will take place at 2.00 pm on Tuesday 26 October at St. Peter’s Church, Lodsworth, West Sussex.

Cristina (Christina) Parallada passed away last week in DC. She was the assistant of Bob Graffam when he was IFC treasurer from 1991 to 1996 and Mr. Richard H. Frank was the VP.

She was from Uruguay.

Horst Wagner, international forestry expert for World Bank, dies at 73

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Horst Wagner, 73, an international forestry expert for the World Bank whose work took him to countries around the world, died Aug. 23 at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore. He had gallbladder cancer.
Mr. Wagner worked for the World Bank for more than two decades until his retirement in 1997. In the field of international development, he was an early and outspoken advocate for conservation who worked to demonstrate to local governments and local citizens that sustainably managed forests provide important benefits including flood control, clean air and wild game habitat.
His projects included planting eucalyptus trees to control erosion on the slopes around La Paz, Bolivia; reforesting 2 million acres of barren hillsides across 15 provinces in China; and galvanizing a new focus on conservation among Russian foresters after the fall of the Soviet Union.
He often contributed more than forestry expertise to the communities where he worked. In Liberia, he donated money and helped raise more from friends to build a school on the outskirts of the capital city of Monrovia.
Mr. Wagner regularly turned down promotions that would have landed him behind a desk, preferring to continue work with local foresters in the field. In the course of his career, he survived two plane crashes (one in Bolivia, the other in Mexico) and bouts with typhoid, hepatitis and a mystery virus that left him with a collapsed lung. Once, he was severely injured when he was run over by a motorcycle.
Born in Bad Kreuznach in what was then West Germany, Mr. Wagner began international development work in Ghana while he was a student at the University of Freiburg.
He graduated with a forestry degree in 1967 and worked for Germany’s foreign aid program and for the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization before joining the World Bank in 1976. By the time he retired, Mr. Wagner had worked in 49 countries and on every continent except Antarctica.
Mr. Wagner had sailed for many years on the Chesapeake Bay. His favorite retreat was his farm on the Little Choptank River near Cambridge, where he enjoyed fishing, hunting and butchering and cooking game.
Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Maria Luise Alber Wagner of Washington