Obituaries

He worked for the CIA in Bolivia, Panama, Guatemala, Guyana and Mexico, as well as Washington. When he retired in 2003, he was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal.

Born in Brockton, Mass., Mr. MacDonald joined the Navy during World War II. He served as an aviation radioman. After the war ended, he graduated from Boston University and joined the CIA.

He enjoyed golf and singing and was once a member of a barbershop quartet. He loved to read.

His first wife, Rosa Lovis MacDonald, died in 1967.

Survivors include his wife of 24 years, Lourdes MacDonald of Vienna; two daughters from his first marriage, Melinda MacDonald and Melani MacDonald, both of Fairfax; a daughter from his second marriage, Lauren MacDonald of Vienna; a sister, Beverly MacDonald of Washington; and two brothers, Robert MacDonald of Cape Town, South Africa, and Myles MacDonald of Florida.

John PickardUrban Planner, Musician

John Pickard, 62, who had an urban planning practice and also was a singer and musician, died Oct. 1 of cancer at his home in Bethesda.

Mr. Pickard came to the Washington area in 1971 and worked with Barton-Aschman Associates and other urban planning firms for about 10 years. He was a consultant to Metro in the early 1970s.

In the early 1980s, he established an urban planning practice under the name of John Pickard Associates. He worked on designing several communities in Northern Virginia, most notably the Broadlands and Lansdowne on the Potomac, both in Loudoun County. He also worked on downtown revitalization plans for Gaithersburg, Annapolis and Alexandria.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mr. Pickard did a considerable amount of work in Armenia, Russia and Ukraine. As a consultant to the World Bank, he helped develop plans for privatizing housing and spent three years in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the mid-1990s. He also worked in India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories. He retired in 2005.

Mr. Pickard was born in Leicester, England, and received a bachelor's degree in architecture and a master's degree in civic design, both from the University of Liverpool. After coming to the United States in 1968, he received a master's degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois the following year.

Mr. Pickard was an accomplished pianist and singer who sang bass with the Choral Arts Society of Washington. He also composed music for his church and for family occasions.

He was a member of St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Washington.

Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Patricia Pickard of Bethesda; a daughter, Claire Slabaugh of Bethesda; a sister; and two grandchildren.