CDRF Holds Memorial for Peter Geithner
On the afternoon of November 7, 2016, China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) held a memorial for Peter Geithner at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in honor of his contribution to China's development and China-US relations. The memorial event was attended by his family, colleagues and friends in China. US President Barack Obama sent a letter of condolence.
Some of Mr. Geithner’ friends shared a few anecdotes about him and acknowledged his work in promoting the Sino-US friendship and his contribution to China’s rapid development in recent years. CDRF Secretary General Lu Mai pointed out in his remarks that help from foreign friends represented by Mr. Geithner, along with a favorable international environment, has played a positive role in China’s opening up.
Mr. Geithner was born in Philadelphia on July 14, 1932, and passed away at his home in Orleans, Massachusetts, on July 29, 2016. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1954, and then served as a pilot in the US Navy, while studying a master program in international relations at Johns Hopkins University. After getting his master’s degree in the 1960s, he joined the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and had worked in Zimbabwe and Zambia for many years.
Mr. Geithner had devoted his life to charity in Asia. He had worked for the Ford foundation for 28 years and participated in a number of programs on education, public health and economic development, among others. He once worked as the Foundation’s deputy representative in India, representative in Southeast Asia and project manager for undertakings in developing countries. Through cooperation with China in areas such as economy, law and international relations, he supported China’s reform and opening up and worked energetically to boost mutual understanding and respect. His efforts also led to a cooperation agreement between Ford Foundation and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). In 1988, he came to China, opened the Beijing office and worked as the Foundation’s first representative in China. He also contributed to the China-US economics education program which financed more than 600 Chinese students to study economics in ten years.
After he retired from the foundation in 1996, Mr. Geithner still followed China’s latest development and its relations with the US. He founded the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Forum, China-US Philanthropy Forum and China-US Philanthropy Platform, and provided consulting service for non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting mutual understanding between the US, China, India and Japan. He was an adviser to Harvard University Asia Center, Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations, Chinese Medical Association, Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and on the board of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, China Center for Economic Research and Center for the Advanced Study of India.
