Gary was a native of southern California and a 1980 economics graduate of the University of California, San Diego. He received his doctorate in development economics from George Washington University in 1989. Gary’s doctorate was completed while working full-time first as an analyst at the Office of Management and Budget and then as deputy director for Africa in the Agency for International Development’s (AID) Food for Peace program. From 1989 to 1991, Gary and his family lived in Nairobi, Kenya where he was an AID program officer.

 

Gary realized a long held desire to work at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when he joined the organization in 1991 as an economist in the Africa department. During his 13 years at the IMF he travelled throughout Africa and to Asia as he worked on policy issues and financial crises. His first six years at the IMF were spent in the Africa department travelling to many of the continent’s countries from tiny Sao Tome and Principe to South Africa and Kenya. In the late 1990’s, as a senior economist in the policy development and review department, Gary was asked to join the team of negotiators who orchestrated the financial bailout of South Korea. After travelling to Indonesia during the financial crisis there, Gary returned to the Africa department and in 2002 was assigned to Nigeria as the IMF’s senior Resident Representative.

 

In April 2004, at the age of 45, Gary died of cancer. At the time of his death, he was the division chief for West Africa at the IMF. He is survived by his wife, three children, two sisters, two brothers and relatives and friends too numerous to count.