Tom Reese, 86, passed away June 23, 2025 from natural causes at his home in Flagstaff, AZ. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lived most of his teenage years in Arlington, Va., graduating from Washington and Lee High in 1957. He is predeceased by his parents Thomas H. Reese, Jr. of Morganton, N.C and Elizabeth Reese (Plant) of San Francisco and a sister, Marcia Wilson (Reuel) of Ontario, Canada. He is survived by a brother, Drew (Mindy) of Santa Fe. He leaves behind two sons: Tom (Jen), of Scottsdale, grandsons Kane and Noah; Glenn (Julie) of Boulder, granddaughters Coralie and Ophelia; and, his ex-wife, Barbara (Rahner), of Bethesda whom he married in 1965. They divorced in 1996, but remained friends until his passing. Tom will be remembered for his very special character, big smile, and enthusiastic support for his family, friends and colleagues.

Tom had a lifetime career with USAID. He exemplified the USAID Officer of its early years. In 1969, he joined USAID as an Executive Management Intern. He entered the program with a degree in economics from the University of Maryland. and a two year stint with the U.S. Army. As USAID sought to build up their expertise, it sent Tom to the University of Pittsburgh for an advanced degree in economics and demography. With that background, in 1970, Tom and his growing family departed for Indonesia, where he was a principal to the successful Indonesian family planning program. He pioneered the idea of decentralization with Indonesian colleagues, and created "village" family planning programs administered by local women. As Office Director, he built the program that was recognized as a model for other developing countries. Tom was one of a distinguished group of USAID officers and collaborators responsible for this success. By 1979, Tom moved on to an assignment in Egypt, where he continued his work as an economist and demographer in the area of population until 1983.

Recognizing Tom's growing managerial skill set, USAID brought Tom back to DC where he was appointed Director of the Office of Near East and North African Affairs with responsibility for the oversight of USAID Missions in Yemen, Morocco, and Tunisia. Quickly thereafter, Tom was moved into increasingly responsible positions at USAID. In 1984, he was designated Director and Coordinator of U.S. Food for Peace Program, a program that addressed urgent food crisis worldwide. He devised a system for moving emergency food shipments quickly, resulting in a food pipeline ready to deploy upon famine. The Food for Peace program, under his stewardship, became a significant actor in promoting long-term global development goals. During this time, Food for Peace was awarded a Distinguished Unit citation, USAID's highest unit award.

1989, Tom was appointed Deputy Assistant Administrator for USAID Asia and Near East Bureau. He took the lead in developing a new model of foreign assistance. This model shifted the concept of U.S. foreign assistance to mutual assistance in solving development issues and forged U.S. private/public sector links to USAID programs in developing countries. He ended his USAID career as Mission Director in Bangkok. Here he joined colleagues seeking to link science and technology with the private sector.

After these roles in D.C. he became Director of the USAID Mission in Bangkok, Thailand and joined colleagues seeking to link local strengths in areas of science and technology with private sector finance with the Asia region and with the United States.

Tom retired from USAID in 1994 with the rank of Minister Counselor in the U.S. Senior Foreign Service. In retirement, he became President and Chief Operating Officer of Amata Corporation Public Company Limited, where he worked with the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler School of Business on partnerships and projects across Southeast Asia.

In 2010, he settled Flagstaff, AZ to be near his two sons and their families. He lived here until his passing in June. Tom's life was filled with many passions. As an avid runner, he participated in marathons around the world, including the original route in Greece, and a barefoot-in -the sand Pyramids-Sakhara run in Egypt. As an adventure traveler, while in Indonesia, family and friends sailed to islands in the Java Sea where outdoor sleeping was the norm. This notion stopped the morning friends woke up to see a python resting in the tree branches above them. One of his great stories told is of what turned out to be a dangerous trek at Mt Sinai. Family and friends were together at the summit, but going down, the children scrambled ahead forging their own route. By sunset, adults were at the base, but children were nowhere to be seen. Tom called out, dashed toward children's responses coming from the rocky cliffs. Tom climbed in the dark, continually calling out to stay put until he reached them Having the children back safely was evidence of Tom's bravery, a manifestation of his caring nature.

Tom's remembrance cannot leave out his enthusiasm for the Washington Red-skins, and especially the SuperBowl victory of 1988. A gathering at Tom's home in Bethesda held a room full of face painted cheerleaders delighting in the Skins' win. In retirement, he connected with his sons over the phone while a game was on, discussing plays and how they would have coached it. His background in economics led him to become his own financial manager. He scouted the market daily so as to not miss a "happening".

Tom was always productive. One of his greatest pastimes was writing short stories. In his later years he would drive across country to join family at their place in Vermont. When he saw an abandoned building on his drive, he would take a picture, and a short narrative would evolve from the photo. He was ahead of his time with Flash Fiction; narratives went from one pagers to a simple sentence. His grandchildren loved listening to him read his stories.

His grandchildren were his Joy. He loved holding his little granddaughters' hands, keeping them safe as they crossed streets. For his grandsons, he created scavenger hunts, leading them to treasures he found throughout his travels. Tom's strong spirit of caring, intelligence, creativity, and very honest character will carry on through his beloved and cherished grandchildren.

There will be a private family gathering with a celebration of life announced at a later time.

Plant a tree in his honor any time, any place on this beautiful earth. This would make him happy.