Nicholas C.H. MacNeil ’61

Nick died May 23, 2025, at home in Staunton, Va., of complications of Parkinson’s disease.

Born in Summit, N.J., he spent his youth in Haiti, where his parents then lived. He came to us from Ridley College, a Canadian boarding school. At Princeton, he majored in history, took his meals at Charter Club, and roomed with Cy Adams, Brooke Baker, Merrill Burton, John Lopez, and Tom Powers. After Princeton he served for two years in the Navy on an LST.

Joining the Foreign Service, Nick had a remarkably peripatetic career, serving initially in Guatemala and Vietnam before earning a master’s degree in public administration at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Returning to Vietnam in 1974, he and his family were among the last Americans to leave. His role assisting Americans and Vietnamese refugees in escaping earned him the State Department’s Award for Valor. Subsequently he served in Bogotá, Bangkok, New Delhi, Montreal, and Fiji, with a brief hiatus to serve in the Carter/Mondale campaign in 1980. He retired in 1996 to Alexandria, Va., and in 2001 moved to Staunton, where he was active in the community.

Nick was predeceased by his son, John. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Linda; daughters Marcia and Laura; and four grandchildren.