Thursday, June 12, 2008
Herbert L. CooperInternational Business Consultant
Herbert L. Cooper, 54, founder of an organization that encouraged the American private sector to support international arts and cultural programs, International Business Through Arts & Culture, died June 2 at his hotel in Seoul after a heart attack. Mr. Cooper, a 2004 heart transplant recipient, was traveling on business.
Herbert Llewellyn Cooper was born in New York and moved to Washington in 1972 to attend Antioch University, where he received an undergraduate degree in communications and marketing in 1976.
Shortly afterward, he founded North American Communications, which published directories for American companies doing business in Africa, the Caribbean Basin, Mexico, South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
From 1999 to 2004, he was a project manager for the A. Phillip Randolph Educational Fund. Among other responsibilities, he was the liaison to the AFL-CIO's Center for Working Capital in a joint effort to identify, recruit and provide educational services to African-American pension fund trustees.
He also developed incentive packages to encourage highway construction contractors to train and employ underserved populations.
He founded International Business Through Arts & Culture, known as IBAC, in 2005.
He also worked as a senior consultant to Diversified Search Ray & Berndston, an executive search firm where he specialized in finding minority executive candidates.
His marriage to Janet Cooper ended in divorce.
Survivors include two brothers and a sister.
-- Joe Holley
Nancy Lovell DeanCIA Officer, Budget Analyst
Nancy Lovell Dean, 75, a former CIA officer and budget analyst at the National Institutes of Health, died of a pulmonary embolism June 4 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. She lived in Silver Spring.
Mrs. Dean worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1953 to 1959. She joined the old Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1971 as a budget analyst and later switched to the NIH, from which she retired in 1989.
She also was a White House volunteer from 1993 to 2000, working on incoming correspondence.
She was born at Fort Monroe, Va., and graduated from the College of William and Mary.
A resident of the Washington area for 60 years, she volunteered for a variety of organizations, including the Korea-Cold War Families of the Missing, the Stoneybrook Civic Association, the Cub Scouts, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association and the American Red Cross. She also was the Republican precinct judge for the Montgomery County Board of Elections for 36 years.
A son, Frank McKaig Dean, died in 1967.
Survivors include her husband of 60 years, retired Navy Cmdr. Richard W. Dean of Silver Spring; and two sons, Army Col. Richard W. Dean II of Springfield and Army Col. Robert L. Dean of Reston.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Carol Susan MessingNOAA Attorney
Carol Susan Messing, 42, an attorney for the Department of Commerce, died of ovarian cancer June 5 at Boca Raton Community Hospital in Boca Raton, Fla.
Ms. Messing worked as senior enforcement lawyer in the Office of General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She prosecuted many fisheries cases, suing to protect scallops and halibut, her sister said.
Twice surviving breast cancer, she retired in 2004 because of health issues. She moved with her husband, a Foreign Service officer, to the Dominican Republic, returning to Washington every three weeks for chemotherapy. In 2006, her husband was reassigned to Nassau, the Bahamas, and she lived there until the past few months, when she resided at her parents' second home in Florida. She and her husband were buying a home in North Potomac.
She was born in Alexandria and was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Colgate University. She received a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1990, then returned to the Washington area to work for Commerce in the Honors Attorney Program.
Ms. Messing was active in breast cancer support groups and was a volunteer English as a Second Language instructor in Silver Spring.
Survivors include her husband of 12 years, Daniel O'Connor of North Potomac; a son, Devin O'Connor of North Potomac; her parents, Judith and Phillip Messing of Potomac; her grandmother, Ann Regan of Norwalk, Conn.; her sister, Barbara Messing of San Francisco; and her brother, Charles Messing of North Potomac.
-- Patricia Sullivan
John Alfred Turner Jr.Attorney, UDC Administrator
John Alfred Turner Jr., 59, a lawyer and an administrator at the University of the District of Columbia, died of lymphoma May 19 at the Washington Hospital Center. He lived in Silver Spring.
Mr. Turner was UDC's assistant vice president for student affairs for about three years until he became ill. He also was the interim athletic director, NCAA compliance officer and director of student disciplinary adjudication.
From 1989 to 2004, he was chief of staff with the Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc. and managing partner of the Dixon, Smith and Turner law firm.
Mr. Turner was born in Washington and graduated from DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville and Howard University, where he was news editor of the university newspaper.
He received a juris doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1973 and a master of laws degree there in 1978. He was a law clerk in D.C. Superior Court under Judge William C. Pryor.
Mr. Turner's son later received a law degree from Georgetown, making the Turners the first African American father-son law graduates at the school. His wife is also a lawyer.
Mr. Turner was past president of the Washington Bar Association, a board member of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and an official in the National Bar Association. He also was an executive board member of the Greater Washington Urban League, a board member of the National Housing Conference and a member of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
He was editor of the National Bar Association's Lawfax bulletin for several years, and he wrote articles published in many trade magazines. He received the National Bar Association's Presidential Award four times and the Washington Bar Association's Award for Distinguished Service in the 1980s.
Survivors include his wife of 33 years, Cecelia E. Wirtz of Silver Spring; a son, John Alfred Turner III of Silver Spring; and a sister, Lois Turner Hopson Reeder of Washington.
-- Patricia Sullivan
David Byron WilliamsContractor, Church Volunteer
David Byron Williams, 81, a contractor who built homes and businesses in Northern Virginia, died of complications of diabetes May 29 at Reston Hospital Center. He lived in Reston.
Mr. Williams built the Circle Woods townhouse development in Fairfax County, among other residences.
For the past 21 years, he volunteered at his church, Shepherd Gate Church of Chantilly, as a deacon and surrogate father to many in the congregation. He also did accounting for the African Assistance Plan, a ministry serving Ghana.
He was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and served in the Navy during World War II in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.
He was aboard the destroyer USS Pope in 1944, which was among the group of vessels that searched for a German U-boat that had been operating off the coast of Africa. The submarine, U-505, was captured by the destroyer USS Chatelain, the first capture of an enemy naval vessel since 1815. Mr. Williams received a Purple Heart and shared in a Presidential Unit Citation for the capture. He also fought at Normandy.
After World War II, Mr. Williams married and attended Spring Hill College. He later reenlisted and served in the Navy during the Korean War. He worked as accountant until he moved to Vienna in 1973 when he entered the construction business. He retired about 10 years ago.
His marriage to Mary Leatrice Roy ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara Anne Herget of Reston; three children from his first marriage, Mary Davette Schurr, Leatrice Davida Weindel and David Stephen Williams, all of Mobile, Ala.; two children from his second marriage, Trevor Owen Williams and Pamela Dee Williams, both Herndon; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan