Victor joined UNICEF a few months before me and we had a career trajectory that was totally different over more than 30 years . We never worked in the same office throughout these long years and yet we somehow bonded into a friendship that I cherished.
Although I knew about him because UNICEF was a much smaller organization in the 1960's, I first met Victor when we were both members of an Appointments & Promotion Committee in NYHQ in the 1970's. In that short time we somehow bonded. Our relationship grew when I was Rep. in Hanoi and Victor was in Jakarta.In those few years we saw each other more often in various EAPRO regional meetings and especially in the annual Reps. meetings. One of the most memorable ones was the meeting in 1982 in Bali which Victor hosted.I attach two photos of that event, one of which shows all the Reps together with Titi Memet the Regional Director and Manou Assadi representing NYHQ. In those days we were considered the "Power Group of UNICEF Reps".It was during that trip that Nadia and I got to meet Suzanne when the Soler-Salas invited us to their house in Jakarta for an exquisite dinner.
As a newcomer to Asia I benefitted from Victor's wise counsel and experience, and my office learned a lot about some programme matters that Indonesia was successfully implementing. The irony is that after Hanoi I was hoping to transfer to Jakarta and all seemed to point in that direction for us. However, Jim Grant had other ideas and I ended up going back to NY to head the Africa Section in Programme Division....and the rest is history, as they say !
When Victor became Regional Director of MENA in Beirut we again reconnected through correspondence and various exchanges. Those were very difficult times for Lebanon and Victor confied in me that he had never forgotten the fact that it was he who was obliged to transfer the regional office to Amman. It weighed heavily on his heart, he said. We again reconnected when Victor came to NY to head the Public Affairs division from 1988-1991. When he was in charge of the big NGO Forum associated with the World Summit for Children , Nadia and Marina Basta were among the spouses he took on board to help out. True to his gentlemanly character he presented each of them with a big bouquet of flowers at the end.
Victor retired in 1992/93 but soon became involved with the Spanish National Committee which he helped grow to one of the more active ones in Europe, notably through a huge expansion in greeting cards sales. As one of very few Spanish citizens in UNICEF he became a de facto representative of his
country in the international organization. A proud Catalan Victor was also a multi-lingual "internationalist" who remained interested and concerned in global matters, the UN and his love of UNICEF.
In recent years he had become a regular contributor to our XUNICEF Newsletter. We last met a few years ago when Nadia and I spent some days in Barcelona. Victor took the train from his house to the city and we had a marvelous lunch in one of the most exclusive restaurants serving local food...truly a grand meeting with a good friend and a meal to remember.
May His Soul Rest in Eternal Peace.
Although I knew about him because UNICEF was a much smaller organization in the 1960's, I first met Victor when we were both members of an Appointments & Promotion Committee in NYHQ in the 1970's. In that short time we somehow bonded. Our relationship grew when I was Rep. in Hanoi and Victor was in Jakarta.In those few years we saw each other more often in various EAPRO regional meetings and especially in the annual Reps. meetings. One of the most memorable ones was the meeting in 1982 in Bali which Victor hosted.I attach two photos of that event, one of which shows all the Reps together with Titi Memet the Regional Director and Manou Assadi representing NYHQ. In those days we were considered the "Power Group of UNICEF Reps".It was during that trip that Nadia and I got to meet Suzanne when the Soler-Salas invited us to their house in Jakarta for an exquisite dinner.
As a newcomer to Asia I benefitted from Victor's wise counsel and experience, and my office learned a lot about some programme matters that Indonesia was successfully implementing. The irony is that after Hanoi I was hoping to transfer to Jakarta and all seemed to point in that direction for us. However, Jim Grant had other ideas and I ended up going back to NY to head the Africa Section in Programme Division....and the rest is history, as they say !
When Victor became Regional Director of MENA in Beirut we again reconnected through correspondence and various exchanges. Those were very difficult times for Lebanon and Victor confied in me that he had never forgotten the fact that it was he who was obliged to transfer the regional office to Amman. It weighed heavily on his heart, he said. We again reconnected when Victor came to NY to head the Public Affairs division from 1988-1991. When he was in charge of the big NGO Forum associated with the World Summit for Children , Nadia and Marina Basta were among the spouses he took on board to help out. True to his gentlemanly character he presented each of them with a big bouquet of flowers at the end.
Victor retired in 1992/93 but soon became involved with the Spanish National Committee which he helped grow to one of the more active ones in Europe, notably through a huge expansion in greeting cards sales. As one of very few Spanish citizens in UNICEF he became a de facto representative of his
country in the international organization. A proud Catalan Victor was also a multi-lingual "internationalist" who remained interested and concerned in global matters, the UN and his love of UNICEF.
In recent years he had become a regular contributor to our XUNICEF Newsletter. We last met a few years ago when Nadia and I spent some days in Barcelona. Victor took the train from his house to the city and we had a marvelous lunch in one of the most exclusive restaurants serving local food...truly a grand meeting with a good friend and a meal to remember.
May His Soul Rest in Eternal Peace.
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