Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Jacob 'Jack' StempelDevelopment Bank Official
Jacob "Jack" Stempel, 71, an operations coordinator for the Inter-American Development Bank for more than 30 years before retiring in the early 1990s, died Feb. 9 at his home in Rockville. He had leukemia.
At the bank, Mr. Stempel arranged for loans to help finance infrastructure projects in Central and South America.
He was a former president of the Inter-American Development Bank-International Finance Corporation federal credit union. He also was a staff representative on the investment committee of the development bank's retirement fund.
Mr. Stempel was born in Kiel, Germany, to a Jewish family that found passage to Bolivia in 1939. He became a U.S. citizen in retirement.
He was a graduate of the University of Oregon and received a master's degree in political science at American University. From 1979 to 1980, he was a fellow at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs.
Mr. Stempel spoke English, German, Spanish and Portuguese and, in retirement, was a volunteer tutor of English as a second language at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. He also was a translator for a team of pediatric plastic surgeons that visited Cuba in recent years.
He was a board member of the VisArts arts center in Rockville and a member of Congregation Har Shalom, a conservative synagogue in Potomac. He also participated in Senior Olympics tennis.
Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Hilde Schaaf Stempel of Rockville; three children, Monica Slater of North Potomac, David Stempel of Ivoryton, Conn., and Daniel Stempel of Wellesley, Mass.; a sister; and seven grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Edward Louis Flaim Jr.Attorney
Edward Louis Flaim Jr., 57, who practiced law in Minneapolis, died of smoke inhalation Feb. 6 during a house fire at his home in Bethesda.
Mr. Flaim, a native Washingtonian, graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School and American University. He received a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1984 and was in private practice in Minneapolis as a personal injury and criminal defense attorney for about 12 years.
In 1993, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and in 1997 he returned to the Washington area to care for his aging parents.
He published several short stories and enjoyed taking his parents on trips to central Pennsylvania, where he went fishing in abandoned coal-mine pits.
His marriage to Kathleen Muldoon ended in divorce.
Survivors include two children, Sean Flaim of Silver Spring and Johanna Soule of Bristol, N.H.; and his parents, Edward and Johanna Flaim, of Bethesda.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Valerio R. 'Val' HuntFAA Engineer
Valerio R. "Val" Hunt, 87, a retired Federal Aviation Administration engineer and physicist, died of pneumonia Jan. 28 at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Del.
He worked for the FAA as head of its advanced automation office from 1982 to 1986, assigned to develop computers to be used for air traffic control. After his retirement, he founded his own consulting company, from which he retired in 2001.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Hunt served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, flying B-25 bombers "over the Hump" in the China-Burma-India theater. After the war ended, he graduated from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.
Mr. Hunt moved to Baltimore in 1952 and joined what became AAI, an aerospace and defense development and manufacturing company. He later became chief engineer of communications and navigation at Bendix Radio in Towson, where he worked on the computer system that tracked manned and unmanned satellites. Later, he was vice president of engineering at Computer Sciences Corp. in Silver Spring, directing the program for the Navy's acoustics intelligence data system.
He worked on the development of computer systems for national defense and national security, including those for the CIA.
Mr. Hunt enjoyed sailing his 34-foot sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay. He moved from Bethesda to Clearwater Beach, Fla., in 2001 and then to Lewes. in 2005.
His marriage to Audrey Miller ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Judy Hunt of Lewes; three children from his first marriage, M. Duane Hunt of Baltimore and Deborah Hunt Devan and Maryjane L. Hunt, both of Lutherville, Md.; and three grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Susan Jane WebsterHomemaker
Susan Jane Webster, 60, a homemaker who studied nutrition, died Jan. 26 of congestive heart failure at Inova Fairfax Hospital. She was an Alexandria resident.
Mrs. Webster was born in Chicago and lived briefly in Japan, where her father was a tax adviser to the Japanese government. The family moved back to Chicago before relocating to Cheverly and then Alexandria.
After graduating from Fort Hunt High School in Alexandria, she briefly attended Old Dominion College. While working as a homemaker and raising three boys, she got her associate of arts degree in nutrition from Northern Virginia Community College in the late 1990s.
She was extremely health-conscious, a son recalled. "She loved nutrition, alternative medicine, those kind of things," said Jeff Webster of Alexandria.
Mrs. Webster was a member of Church of the Apostles in Fairfax and enjoyed doing flower arrangements for the church. She loved the ocean.
Her marriage to John Webster ended in divorce.
Survivors include two other sons, Scott Webster of Manassas and Matt Webster of Ashburn; and one grandson.
-- Joe Holley
Thomas Edward StevensonManagement Analyst for Army
Thomas Edward Stevenson, 82, a retired civilian analyst for the Army, died Jan. 30 at Leewood Nursing Home in Annandale. He had Parkinson's disease.
Mr. Stevenson was born in Uniontown, Pa. In 1943, he joined the Army Air Forces. He trained as a radio operator and served stateside until 1946.
Two years later, having moved to Northern Virginia, he began a 40-year career as a management analyst with the U.S. Army Materiel Command in Alexandria. He retired in 1988.
He also worked part time for two furniture stores, including Curtis Brothers Furniture Co.
In retirement, Mr. Stevenson became an usher at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Patriot Center at George Mason University. He also volunteered as an Election Day poll worker in Annandale, where he lived for 32 years.
Mr. Stevenson loved dancing and the music of Lawrence Welk. He also enjoyed singing and cheering for the Washington Redskins.
Survivors include his wife of 33 years, Martha Irene Stevenson of Annandale.
-- Marylou Tousignant