Obituaries

Joseph Wells CliffordInternational Specialist

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Joseph Wells Clifford, 85, an international organization and arms control specialist, died of a heart attack May 14 at his home in Chevy Chase.

Mr. Clifford served for 30 years at the State Department and the Atomic Energy Commission, including 19 years with the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations. The IAEA assists its member states with the peaceful uses of atomic energy and safeguards against military uses.

From 1950 to 1957, his State Department assignments included involvement with the U.S. delegation that negotiated the contractual arrangements for West Germany and as U.S. liaison with the U.N.'s Technical Assistance Program.

After retiring from the federal government in 1977, Mr. Clifford served for two years as nuclear nonproliferation adviser on the staff of the Federation of American Scientists, followed by 11 years in the same capacity with the Committee for National Security, of which he was a member. He also was a member of the National Press Club.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, he grew up there and in Toledo. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1943. From 1944 through 1946 he served in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps in France and Germany, working on the de-Nazification program. In 1949, he received from Columbia University a law degree emphasizing international and comparative law.

For many years, Mr. Clifford was president of the Authors Club of Washington, meeting at the Cosmos Club. He also served as treasurer of the International Schools Foundation and maintained membership in the Arms Control Association, the National Cathedral Association and Kenwood Golf and Country Club.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Susan Sweetser Clifford of Chevy Chase; two children, Anthony Clifford of Bethesda and Claudia Clifford of Helena, Mont.; and two grandchildren.

Brenda M. DerbyFDA Statistician

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Brenda Marie Derby, 55, who had been a Food and Drug Administration statistician since 1991 and worked in the consumer studies branch of its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, died May 11 at her home in Washington. She had hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

In 2002, Dr. Derby was a recipient with two co-authors of the Thomas C. Kinnear/Journal of Public Policy and Marketing Award for outstanding article.

Co-author Alan S. Levy, an FDA senior scientist, said the study, published in the journal in spring 1999, showed that health claims made by a company and approved by the FDA "were effective in increasing people's positive evaluation of a product. But the cost was they were less careful in examining the nutrition information on the back of a package."

Dr. Derby also received FDA and Department of Health and Human Services awards for excellence.

She was a native of Vancouver and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1975. From Claremont Graduate University in California, she received a master's degree in social-environmental psychology in 1979 and a doctorate in applied social psychology in 1987. Before moving to the Washington area to join the FDA, she was a human resources research specialist for Hughes Aircraft Co. in Los Angeles.

She volunteered at the National Building Museum in Washington and was a member of the District of Columbia Sociological Society. She also belonged to a book club and a ladies tea group.

Her husband of 21 years, Jeffrey Wilde, died in 2000.

Survivors include her father and stepmother, Kenneth Derby and Irene Zilinski of Vancouver; two sisters; and two brothers.