Obituaries

Robert James WeatherwaxCIA Officer

Robert James Weatherwax, 77, an international officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, died Oct. 10 of heart and respiratory ailments at his home in Ashburn.

Mr. Weatherwax was a Secret Service agent in New York City in the mid-1950s before he joined the CIA in 1958. He served primarily as an intelligence officer in international postings. He was fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and worked throughout Central America and South America. He met his future wife while assigned to Quito, Ecuador.

After retiring from the CIA in 1979, he worked in corporate security for Chesebrough-Ponds Inc., a cosmetics-manufacturing company in Greenwich, Conn. In 1985, he moved to Sterling and joined USATREX International Inc., which sent him overseas to develop security programs for U.S. embassies. He retired in 1999.

Mr. Weatherwax was born in Scotia, N.Y., and was a summa cum laude graduate of Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. He later attended New York Medical College.

During the Korean War, he served in the Army Medical Corps in Japan. After his military service, he received a second bachelor's degree, in criminal justice, from Michigan State University.

He was a member of the American Society of Industrial Security and the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators. He was also a member of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church in Sterling.

Survivors include his wife of 44 years, Liliana Palacios Weatherwax of Ashburn; two sons, Paul Weatherwax of Ashburn and Robert Weatherwax of Reston; a sister; and three grandchildren.

Leo LevenbookNIH Chemist

Leo Levenbook, 85, a research chemist, died of heart disease Oct. 8 at his home in Chevy Chase.

Dr. Levenbook worked at the National Institutes of Health as an insect biochemist for almost 30 years. He retired in 1985.

He was born in Kobe, Japan, of Russian parents and raised in England. He graduated from the University of London, and he received a doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge in 1950. Then he came to the United States and settled in the Washington area.

In retirement, he and his wife enjoyed world travel.

Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Alessandra Levenbook of Chevy Chase; a daughter, Leonore "Nini" Cavallero of Quito, Ecuador; and two grandchildren.