IN MEMORIAM: Prof. David C. McGaffey, PhD (1941 – 2021)

Prof. David C. McGaffey, PhD, U.S. Diplomat and Visiting Professor in International Relations at University American College Skopje (UACS) passed away on April 14, 2021, in the U.S.A.

Professor McGaffey held a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies. He obtained his Master’s degree in Systems Analysis at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Previously he studied at MIT (Sloan School), The University of Detroit, and the Foreign Service Institute.

Prof. McGaffey’s first contact with University American College Skopje was in 2009. As a Fulbright Specialist, between March and May of that year he delivered a series of lectures on ‘The Evolution of Iran’, ‘Changes in Europe since WWII’ and ‘Cross-cultural Management’, as well as training on negotiations for professors and graduate students. In the following years he was invited as visiting professor to teach several master’s level courses including: Conflict and Peace Strategies; Politics of the Middle East; Terrorism, Security and Protection of Human Rights; Politics of Developed Countries; and Foreign Policy Analysis. Prof. McGaffey took part in the Annual international conference on European integration in 2012 organised by UACS, and his paper contribution ‘Neostates: Old Problems’ (doi: 10.5281/zenodo.4502429) was published by the AICEI Proceedings journal. In 2014 he presented his paper ‘A Global Social Compact: Precondition for Permanent Peace’ at the International conference ‘Thucydides vs. Kant: Reconsidering the Concepts of War and Peace’ organised in Skopje. As an international consultant he also gave valuable advice in the process of obtaining a U.S. accreditation for University American College Skopje by ACBSP.

Professor McGaffey returned to teaching and consulting when he retired in 1991 from the US Foreign Service, after a twenty-five-year career as a U.S. diplomat, serving in the Philippines, Afghanistan, Iran, and Guyana, among other countries. He also served as U.S. representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. A man of enormous professional experience, he authored numerous books and articles, as well as curricula, simulations, and other publications. He has taught at 12 different universities on four continents including University of Sierra Leone, Holy Names University in Oakland, St. Mary’s College of California and University California Berkley on an adjunct basis. In 2010, he taught negotiations, international trade, and cross-cultural management to students from over 40 countries on the Scholar Ship as they travelled around the Cape of Good Hope from Hong Kong to Amsterdam.

Prof. McGaffey’s colleagues as well as students hold in high esteem his intellectual wit and inspiring eloquence. He shall be greatly missed by the faculty and students of UACS.

We express our condolences to his wife Elizabeth and his three daughters: Jennifer, Margaret (Colin) and Deirdre (Chad) and their families.