By Glenn Yoder
It was a long path for Dick Goldman from his dorm on Hemenway Street to his current desk at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) post in Skopje, Macedonia. En route, he has traveled to eight countries on four continents in the past three decades, while finding the time to further his education, get married and start a family.
In 1969, a commitment to society and the lure of new adventure pulled the recent Northeastern graduate from Boston’s Back Bay to the Peace Corps in Liberia.
Goldman was stationed in a remote part of West Africa, working with “budding agricultural cooperatives.”
“I wanted to give back a little bit because I had been very fortunate,” he said. “Plus I could apply some sense of adventure to being in a new part of the world in developing situations. I had a target for adventure.”
Goldman was prepared for the assignment. A co-op job at Ford Motors in Deerborne, Mass. had prepared him for the life and struggles in developing nations while giving him an idea of what he wanted for himself.
“While that experience working for a multi-national corporation was excellent, it made me realize that’s not what I wanted to do; which seems funny because I ended up going with a government job,” he said. “It’s much too large of a bureaucracy, but it gave me a real life view of business and paid my way through school. And the things I learned and discussed have been, and remain, valuable.”
The useful skills he acquired, served him as he continued to pursue an occupation in foreign service. After obtaining a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University in 1975, he returned to Europe and began the traveling life again. He found the time to marry and start a family, despite almost constantly being on the move.
The two children accompanied their parents around the world, often shifting between schools. Goldman said, however, that seeing the world was a good experience for his children. They eventually grew up to embrace a world culture, participating in semesters abroad during college and doing undergraduate work in Canada.
“It’s not all malls and K-Marts,” he said. “It opened their eyes and they seem to have benefited from it.”
After years of commitment to his work, Goldman was named the USAID Mission Director in Macedonia in 2002.
USAID assists in the economic development of third-world countries and, from 1992 to Sept. 30, 2003, USAID and the U.S. government provided $380 million in assistance to Macedonia.
Under Goldman’s direction, the first private university was started in Macedonia and technology development projects were set into motion.
“We’re here to work with them for a while longer as they make the gut-wrenching transition to a market-based economy,” he said.
The current economic climate of Macedonia is disparate, he said, however, the citizens are willing to work for whatever help they can get.
“Not many American companies are in business in Macedonia — it’s pretty poor,” he said. “The people supply the labor themselves while the U.S. government supplies funds. I like the community part. Not only do they want to do something, but they put forth the effort. It’s all in their input.”
Goldman said the experience gained from co-op and the Peace Corps programs have been incredibly valuable to his life and work, and he encourages students to utilize these tools.
“Lead the life you want to lead while you’re young,” he said. “You can pick where and it’s fabulous to learn a new language. You can make contributions and live overseas and see how others live. You’ll see how fortunate we are in the U.S.”
