Delinda Hanley, Dick Curtiss’s daughter, told me that her father, right up to the end, even in the nursing home, proofread each issue of The Washington Report.
At 3 p.m. on May 24, 1982, Richard Curtiss, a retired chief inspector of the United States Information Agency (USIA), and British Ambassador Edward Henderson visited our New York office. (Yes, I keep old calendars.) They came to discuss the magazine they, along with U.S. Ambassador Andrew Killgore, had just launched. Today, that publication, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, is a full-color, 80-plus page magazine that goes to bookstores, libraries, homes and businesses around the world.
Over the years we have plugged each other’s publication, although I remember once telling our Link readers that if they had to pick two magazines to take to a desert island, The Washington Report definitely should be their second choice. One has to keep one’s priorities.
Dick Curtiss, in a preeminent way, gave WRMEA its reputation for excellence, integrity—and credibility. And credibility not just to WRMEA, but to all of the outlets he wrote for. When he authored our 1997 Link on the hidden as well as the direct costs of U.S. aid to Israel, we made a point of highlighting the fact that our writer had received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, the USIA’s highest professional recognition.
AMEU never divulges the names of its subscribers. But here’s an exception. Over the years Richard and Donna Curtiss never failed to send in their annual subscription to The Link.
I cannot think of a better way for our readers to honor the memory of this extraordinary man than to take out a $29, one-year subscription to “his” magazine; the address is: WRMEA, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707.
To the Curtiss family, to Dick’s wife Donna and their three children, the Directors and staff of AMEU offer their profound condolences.—John F. Mahoney