I.M. Destler *65 *71

Mac died March 27, 2025, in Woburn, Mass. He was 85.

Born in Statesboro, Ga., on Aug. 21, 1939, Mac graduated from Harvard in 1961 and served in the Peace Corps, teaching at the newly established University of Nigeria. After earning his MPA from Princeton in 1965, Mac worked for then-Sen. Walter Mondale, served on LyndonJohnson’s task force on government organization, then took a position at the Department of Agriculture focused on international development at the onset of the Green Revolution.

Mac’s insider’s view of policymaking laid the groundwork for his Woodrow Wilson School Ph.D., awarded in 1971, and the publication of his book Presidents, Bureaucrats American Foreign Policy.

Through work with the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Mac became an expert on U.S.-Japan relations, U.S. trade politics, and White House decision-making. He authored or co-authored 14 books, including American Trade Politics, which the American Political Science Association named the 1987 best book on U.S. national policy.

Mac joined the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy faculty in 1987, serving twice as interim dean.

Mac is survived by his wife, Harriett; children Mark and Kate; brother William; and three grandchildren.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.