from Russell deLucia // Cambridge, MA

I, along with John’s other friends, have lost a dear friend and brilliant colleague whose values and commitments to equitable and sustainable economic development I am proud to say we shared. I knew him for more than 20 years and had the good fortune to collaborate with him on various projects and assignments in multiple institutional settings during that period of time. Even when we were not collaborating formally, we were often informally sharing ideas and mutual constructive criticism. 

I experienced the great pleasure of a relationship with John that evolved from one in which I was mentoring him, to one in which we were peer collaborators to a relationship in which I was so often learning from him too. I was senior in age to John when we first met - he was a young professional who had yet to pursue his advanced degrees - and, as I continued my active professional life, I worked together with John on an intermittent basis in various organizational frameworks. Even when we were not working directly together, we often stayed in touch, exchanging ideas, viewpoints, and constructive criticisms on matters of mutual interest, many of which pertain to an enterprise-centric approach to poverty alleviation and development.

John had a wonderful way of remembering comments and other details of our exchanges - often ones I had long forgotten – and had a unique ability to make these details and exchanges useful in some manner. My favorite example of this (and the one that I remember best given that he had multiple occasions to note it) had to do with dealing making, financial structuring, and types of financing. I once commented to him that previously we only worked with a limited menu of options using the analogy of just vanilla, strawberry and chocolate choices that dominated Howard Johnson’s ice cream scene. Then we segued into talking about where we have move to - namely dozens of options like Baskin Robbins’ raspberry, rocky road, and countless other menu choices offered by multiple local and national ice cream outlets. Knowing my liking for ice cream and my perennial dieting problem, John and I would be discussing options like secondary debt and contingent grants along with “plain vanilla debt.” John would often mention aspects our shared analogy and I have even used the analogy in presentations. I think John might have too.

But my fond memories of John are not just about our work and professional interactions; some of the best moments we shared were during meals together in which we discussed food. He taught me about cheeses that I had not heard of and about the nuances of ciders. These wonderful conversations always seemed to become intertwined with discussions of our work in small-scale enterprise development. John was so very dedicated to both supporting and actively doing this work.

Finally, I want to express that, because of the generosity of his networking, I have friends and colleagues that I would not otherwise have and with whom I will not only continue to collaborate, but with whom I will also share fond memories of John - a dear, brilliant, kind and generous person who I was lucky to have as a friend and colleague.   

Russell
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Russell deLucia
S3IDF
Cambridge, MA