World Bank Consultant Richard Clifford Dies

Richard Clifford, 60, of Purcellville, VA, a consultant for the World Bank, died unexpectedly April 26, 2012, while on business in New Delhi, India.

Born in New Haven, CT, Richard Lawrence Clifford was the son of the late Dr. Joseph Campbell Clifford and Virginia Marie (Harkin) Clifford of Hamden, CT. He graduated in 1969 from the Hopkins School in New Haven and received his B.S.F.S. in 1973 from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. Following university, he received an M.SC. degree in Agricultural Economics in 1974 from Keble College, Oxford University, England.

That same year he married Katherine Carey of Newport, RI, and, shortly after finishing graduate school, they joined the Peace Corps together to serve in Nicaragua. They were assigned to the Basic Grains Program, which was designed to raise productivity among small-scale farmers, and served for two years. In 1979, he received his MBA from The University of Chicago.

For eight years, beginning in 1979, he served as Financial Officer of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), located in Texcoco, Mexico. In 1988, he joined the World Bank staff as a Budget Officer and in 1991 became the senior country officer to the Latin American region. He was responsible for coordinating the bank’s engagement in Nicaragua. In 1993, he transferred to the Infrastructure Division of the Latin America region as senior financial analyst. He led the preparation and supervision of a large number of housing, infrastructure finance and power projects in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua. In 1996, he moved to the field office in Mexico City to become Sector Leader of Infrastructure.

In 2000, he moved to the field office in Moscow as country manager where he directed projects, including the renovation of the Marinsky Theater and the State Hermitage Museum. In 2005, he moved to the field office in Delhi, India, to become the lead urban specialist for the South Asia region.

In 2010, he retired and began consulting for the World Bank, after a 24-year career there. At the time of his death he was on mission for the India Capacity Building for Urban Development Project as well as consulting for the World Bank on projects in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. His colleagues and friends remember him as knowledgeable, generous, calm, loyal, understated and committed, with a great sense of humor.

Aside from all his professional attainments, he was happiest at home, with his family or working in the garden. After retirement, he and his wife lived at a family cottage in Inch, County Kerry, Ireland.

Mr. Clifford is survived by his widow, Katherine Carey Clifford, of Purcellville, VA and their children Patrick Dillion Clifford and his wife Anna Willett Clifford, of Richmond, VA, Matthew Bric Clifford of Purcellville and Jane Sarah Clifford of London, England. He is also survived by his sister Mary Elizabeth Clifford of the District of Columbia, his brother Stephen Campbell Clifford and wife Geetha Mathew Clifford of Alexandria, VA, and his favorite aunt, Elizabeth Russell Harkin of Wallingford, CT, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, friends and colleagues scattered across the globe.

A visitation will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, May 4, at the Loudoun Funeral Chapel, 158 Catoctin Circle SE, in Leesburg, VA. A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 5, at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 37018 Glendale Street, Purcellville, VA  20134. Interment will be held privately at a later date.

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