OBITUARY

Robert Varley 23rd November 2008

Robert Christopher Gough Varley, aged 58, who died suddenly of a cerebral aneurysm in Malaysia had devoted most of his career as an economist to assistance in the developing world.

Robert was born in Perth, Scotland, on the 11th December 1949, but in 1955 his father went to Indonesia under the United Nations technical assistance programme and Robert received much of his early education at the International School in Jakarta, where he mixed with other children of many different races and creeds, an experience which profoundly influenced his attitude to people in later life.

In 1961 his father became a civil servant in the United Kingdom ministry for civil aviation and settled in Camberley, Surrey, England, where Robert attended the Frimley & Camberley Grammar School with distinction. In September 1968 Robert went on to study mathematics and economics at University College, London, graduating with a B.Sc.(Econ.) Honours in 1971. In 1973 he obtained a M.Sc.(Econ.) in the economics of public policy and a Cert.Ed.(Further and Higher Ed.).

After leaving university in 1971 he tried his hand at teaching  mathematics at a High School and then in 1973 economics at the South Bank University, London.  But by 1975  he had  decided that teaching  was not his vocation and he became interested in the application of economics to problems in giving international aid. This interest was partially motivated by the secondment of his father to Fiji under the UK Overseas Aid Scheme in 1974. In July 1975, quite independently, Robert followed his family to Fiji to carry out a study on the Economics of Tourism, funded  by the UK Ministry of Overseas Development. After completing the study he stayed on for a year to lecture on Economics at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, leaving to return to England in September 1976, when he undertook some research work at the University of Bangor, Wales. In 1978 the University published  his Fiji report in book form as “Tourism in Fiji, Some Economic and Social Problems.”, and this was favourably reviewed.

 The visit to Fiji had wet his appetite for research work in developing countries, but both his relative youth and limited experience made it difficult for him to get direct contract work with either government or international agencies so in December 1978 he joined the British firm of Hunting Technical Services (HTS) , Elstree, agricultural, land use and environmental consultants, as a research economist. Only nominally based in England he undertook extended missions to Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, spending most of his seven year with the company overseas, much of which was in Indonesia. He began to specialise in the economic aspects of problems arising from the irrigation of land for agricultural use, not just theoretically but also at both administrative and grass roots level.

In Indonesia Robert's work was greatly helped by his knowledge of the Indo-Malaysian language, which he could speak, read and write fluently, this skill coupled with an extensive familiarity with Asian etiquette and customs gave him an entrée in to society not generally open to expatriates.

In June 1985 Robert was recruited by the prestigious Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) to coordinate their programme in Indonesia as a Project Associate and University Officer. In September 1986, with a traditional Javanese wedding, he married Widayati Ambarkali (Yati), her father was a senior civil servant and  a direct descendent of  the Sultan Hamengku Bowono of Djogjakarta. Another ancestor, Raden Ranadipura, was the amanuensis to Sir Stamford Raffles when he was the British governor of Java at the time of the Napoleonic War. The union was blessed with a son, Krishna, in December 1987.

Robert stayed with HIID until August 1990 when, as a result of Yati winning a US immigration department 'green card' in a 'lottery', they decided to move to the United States of America. To enhance his  professional standing  in the USA Robert decided to take a two year full time post graduate MBA course, specialising in public administration, at  the School of Management, Yale University, Princeton, Conn.,  which he commenced in August 1990. This course was undertaken entirely at his own expense and he worked independently on aid projects during vacation to help pay the cost and keep his family..

After graduation in May 1992 Robert moved to Fairfax, Virginia, close to Washington  and joined the staff of the Research Triangle Institute (RTI), NC, a body supported by three North Carolina universites, which had been formed to provide technical solutions to both governments and businesses world wide. His office was however in Washington, DC, and a lot of the projects he was concerned with involved extensive liason with US government offices and the World Bank, whose headquarters are based there.

During his period with RTI Robert made significant contributions to international aid policies on the economic benefits of the provision of clean water to achieve improvements in health in the developing countries. The essence of his argument was that it was more beneficial to a country's economy to spend money on providing clean water than on imported medicines to treat the deficiencies and diseases arising from drinking poor quality water.

Although his work involved numerous overseas visits a significant portion of his time was in Washington and he was able to spend much of it with his young family. Krishna was joined by a sister, Lucy, in 1993.

A notable characteristic of Robert's was his independent approach to projects, he did not take kindly to either suggestion or pressure to modify the views he expressed in his reports, particularly when either political or commercial influences were implied. In 1997 he appears to have come to the conclusion that his independent approach was incompatible with working directly for any formal organisation, either commercial, governmental or academic. He therefore decided after 5 years with RTI   to become an independent economic consultant operating from his home near Washington under the name of “Vekon  Associates”.

As an independent consultant Robert undertook many different projects, principally for the World Bank, the USAID program and the Asian Development Bank.  At the former he was looked upon  as a favoured consultant for those projects involving financial aid for irrigation and associated development.

In 2003 Robert played a major part in independently evaluating, for the World Bank Operations Evaluation Department, the assistance they had been giving to China with regards to water resources and associated environmental issues. The project involved extensive on the spot investigations in China and was both lengthy and stressful.

In July 2005 Robert suffered a heart attack and had to have an operation to remove a blood clot. Although he soon recovered his subsequent activities were restricted by his state of health, and he began to find that independent self employment had its disadvantages. Nevertheless he still undertook overseas assignments, visiting Azerbaijan for USAID, and in November 2007 attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia as adviser to the president of the Islamic Development Bank. This was an assignment which he enjoyed as it enabled him to also visit many old friends that he had there.

Robert and his family became American citizens although he retained his British nationality, an arrangement both recognised and allowed by the governments of both countries. He was a staunch supporter of the special relationship existing between the United States and the United Kingdom and never saw any inconsistency in having dual nationality.

Robert's principle hobby was photography and he always carried a professional type camera on his travels. Before the advent of digital photography he did his own printing and developing, both black and white and colour. As a computer expert he soon trained himself to handle digital pictures, and at the time of his death he had accumulated an archive of some 300 Gb of pictures. Although never a professional his photographs always showed both competence and considerable artistic appreciation.

When at school he joined 1075 (Camberley) Squadron of the Air Training Corps, he always maintained a great interest in aviation and in the eighties he obtained a UK Private Pilot's Licence, however he found flying in south east England was not a relaxing recreational activity.

He died suddenly on the 23rd November 2008 in Kuala Lumpur following a three week session training Malaysian officials in project evaluation. The assignment was sponsored by the USAID program and consequently the US embassy took charge of the arrangements. In accordance with his known wishes he was cremated, the ceremony took place on the 27th November and was attended by his brother-in-law, Podkuiniwi Bowo, who had flown up from Indonesia to represent his family, embassy officials and many he knew in Malaysia. The ashes were flown back to his family and a commemoration of his life held at his home on  the 10th January 2009. His ashes were interred privately by his family at the EcoEternity Forest, near Middleburg, Virginia 20117, on the 8^th January 2009.

Requiescent in Pace, Magna est Veritas.

[ Contacts ; widow & children - widayativ@aol.com

parents - varley_mike@yahoo.co.uk ]