John P. Lewis, an Adviser to Presidents on Economic Aid, Dies at 89
John P. Lewis, who was an economic adviser to three presidents, largely on the subject of foreign aid, died Wednesday in Montgomery, N.J. He was 89 and lived at Stonebridge at Montgomery, a retirement community.
His son-in-law Charles LaMonica said he died of natural causes.
Mr. Lewis, a strong advocate of American aid to developing countries, was named by President John F. Kennedy to the Council of Economic Advisers in 1962. In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him director of the United States Agency for International Development in India.
Under President Jimmy Carter, he was chairman of the development assistance committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which coordinates economic policies and foreign aid programs of the most developed nations.
Mr. Lewis argued that aid was a necessary element of foreign policy, and he battled those who denounced the misuse of American aid by corrupt foreign governments and opposed sending taxpayer dollars abroad.
“He generally felt that the rich had an obligation to the poor, a worldview that applied to nations as much as it did to individuals,” said Devesh Kapur, the director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, and the co-author, with Mr. Lewis and Richard Webb, of a history of the World Bank. “He was very, very troubled by inequalities both in the U.S. and globally.”...
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His son-in-law Charles LaMonica said he died of natural causes.
Mr. Lewis, a strong advocate of American aid to developing countries, was named by President John F. Kennedy to the Council of Economic Advisers in 1962. In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him director of the United States Agency for International Development in India.
Under President Jimmy Carter, he was chairman of the development assistance committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which coordinates economic policies and foreign aid programs of the most developed nations.
Mr. Lewis argued that aid was a necessary element of foreign policy, and he battled those who denounced the misuse of American aid by corrupt foreign governments and opposed sending taxpayer dollars abroad.
“He generally felt that the rich had an obligation to the poor, a worldview that applied to nations as much as it did to individuals,” said Devesh Kapur, the director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, and the co-author, with Mr. Lewis and Richard Webb, of a history of the World Bank. “He was very, very troubled by inequalities both in the U.S. and globally.”...