̽»¨¾«Ñ¡

The Board of Directors, Overseers and staff of the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ are deeply saddened by the loss of Bob DeVecchi, our former President and CEO.

A graduate of Yale University and the Harvard School of Business Administration, and a former Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State, Bob devoted his life to service.

With his dedication and leadership, Bob helped build the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ into a global humanitarian organisation. He was a compassionate, gracious and soft-spoken man who was unafraid and relentless in support of refugees and the displaced.

Former ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ President Bob DeVecchi at the 2010 Children's Lunch.

Photo: ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡

Bob joined the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ in 1975 to lead the organisation’s efforts in resettling Vietnamese refugees as part of the largest refugee resettlement effort in United States history. Under Bob’s leadership as Executive Director from 1985 to 1991 and then as President and CEO from 1992 to 1997, the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ played an increasingly important role in global relief and development while maintaining its position as one of the leading U.S. resettlement agencies.  

In December 1991, Bob launched the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡â€™s relief efforts in the Balkans, which provided emergency aid on a large scale in Sarajevo and elsewhere in Bosnia until peace was reached in 1995. During this time the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ simultaneously responded to refugee crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, West Africa, Ethiopia and Rwanda.

After retiring from the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ in 1997, Bob was appointed Adjunct Senior Fellow for Refugees and the Displaced at the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1996 he was awarded the Peacemakers Award of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., and in 1998 the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Freedom Award for his "extraordinary contribution to the cause of refugees and human freedom."  

We are grateful to Bob for his enormous contributions to the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ and the cause of refugees. In death he joins his beloved wife and partner Betsy Trippe, who passed away in 2009. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family.

̽»¨¾«Ñ¡

Sarah O'Hagan and Thomas Schick,
Co-Chairs of the Board;
Timothy Geithner
Chair, ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Overseers;
David Miliband, President