bout de papier, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1996) — Fall 1996 // Automne 1996, pp. 37–38
Stanley Gooch provided the following eulogy at a memorial service for Russ Davidson on Sunday, July 21, 1996. Russ died in Ottawa on July 16, 1996.
Russ Davidson joined the Department of External Affairs — now Foreign Affairs and International Trade – in 1966 and a few weeks ago completed 30 years of dedicated service in a career which included many varied assignments in Ottawa, as well as postings as Ambassador in Caracas, Venezuela and in Manila, Philippines and earlier postings in Mexico, in Beijing, in Tel Aviv and in Dar-es-Salaam. This wide range of assignments in Ottawa and abroad spanning most regions of the globe, together with his outstanding personal qualities, made Russ an officer of unusual versatility, capable of serving with great distinction in senior positions responsible for Asia, or Latin America, or the Middle East and Africa as well as for personnel and departmental management issues. Russ was one of the early Presidents of PAFSO — the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. The department and the foreign service community will greatly miss a highly-valued and experienced officer; but more importantly, we his colleagues who were his closest friends will cherish our memories of Russ as a most faithful, loyal and dear friend, a man who had great personal integrity and an engaging sense of humour.
Russ and I were among 67 young foreign service officers who joined External in 1966 and, in departmental tradition, became collectively known as the “class of 66”. From the beginning, Russ was considered among the “best and brightest” and enjoyed a rapid rate of promotion. He was given some of the most challenging assignments. In his early career, I think particularly of his postings to Tel Aviv and Beijing and his assignments to the Middle East desk, at the time these positions were genuine “hot spots” and at the top of the department’s priorities. Tom Boehm tells me that it was during the period just after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war that Russ developed the Canadian policy toward the Palestinians that serves well to this day.
Although I knew Russ as one of the stars of our class of 66, I cannot claim to have known him particularly well on a personal level during the time we went through our training assignments in 1966 and 1967, and were then shipped off to the postings we were eager for, first he — before he and Jennifer were married — to Dar-es-Salaam and then I (and Nancy) to Buenos Aires. But our careers subsequently intersected on two occasions when we each were posted to headquarters in Ottawa. It was during these occasions, particularly the latter one, that I got to know Russ well, came to admire him greatly and grew very fond of him.
The first occasion our careers intersected in Ottawa was in 1976 when I was sent to replace Russ at “PDMI”. For those not familiar with the department’s acronyms of twenty years ago — and who but a very few would be – PDMI meant that Russ, and subsequently I, was the Under Secretary’s advisor on coordinating and consolidating the various foreign services and operations that then existed in a number of government departments. By the time I took over from Russ he has already been the lead player in a group that had laid the foundation for the integrated foreign service we know today. In his briefings, and in following up on his work, I came to appreciate the far-sightedness of his analysis, his pragmatism and his ability to build trust amongst individuals and organizations that had been longstanding rivals.
The second occasion our careers intersected in Ottawa was when he and I returned from postings in 1989 and were asked to be Directors General for Louise Fréchette in the Latin America and Caribbean Branch which had been given a mandate to transform Canada’s passive acquaintanceship with Latin America into a full partnership. At the end of 1990, Louise was moved to other important tasks, leaving Russ and I to lead a very good team that included Paul Durand and others here today.
Russ played a key role in the major initiatives that began in 1989 and included full Canadian membership in the Organization of American States, the negotiation of NAFTA, the establishment of personal links between Canadian and Latin leaders and significant increases in Canadian trade and investment with the region.
These were challenging and exciting times. While working to develop relations with Latin America in itself is a relatively straight-forward task, unpredictable and often undesirable events inevitably occur which greatly complicate any pre-set foreign policy agenda. In this case, the most complicating event was the coup in Haiti against President Aristide and clear and firm instructions from Canadian political leaders for Canada — meaning us — to take the lead in restoring democracy in Haiti.
I am not planning to provide an account of any of these events but rather to mention the crises and the challenges that bring out the best in good people such as Russ and draw colleagues very close to each other.
Russ was a man of unusually high integrity and dedication to Canada. He had a clear view that his role was to serve to the best of his ability. He was never prepared to sacrifice truth for convenience, nor the longterm interest of Canada for the sake of some short-term gain.
His personal integrity was such that throughout his career, Russ never did anything solely for the sake of appearance or to impress anyone. Even in small things. For example, he never stayed fashionably late at his desk to look industrious or to appear engaged. But in times of real crises, he was always on the job, regardless of the hour or day or night of the week. In the endless meetings that plague the department and government, Russ resisted any urge to speak first on every issue or to make the definitive point. He spoke only to make a new point or when he felt a wrong course of action might be taken. Unlike most, he took few notes at meetings; nevertheless weeks later he could provide a full account of the major points of discussion as well as who had taken what position and why. Russ saw himself, and his role, clearly and was comfortable with what he saw.
Russ was a man of great personal courage and excellent judgement. He was sent to Haiti for lengthy periods to represent Canada in difficult negotiations and to lead a very isolated mission. This happened on three different occasions – two after he had already arrived to take up his posting in Venezuela — at a time when the military leaders were directly threatening Canadian representatives. I well remember the then Under Secretary Reid Morden paying Russ a great compliment by asking whether I could possibly identify someone else “like Russ Davidson with ’rock solid’ judgement and real commitment to the service” to send to another hot-spot. Russ, at that time, was already engaged in one of his lengthy stints in Haiti.
Russ was a man of great humanity — dedicated to his family and genuinely concerned about his colleagues, especially his subordinates. In deciding whether to accept a posting either to Venezuela or to several alternatives, Russ made his choice based, not on what would be best for his career, but on what appeared best for Kendra’s schooling, for maintaining close contact with Tim and Emily who were being left behind in Canada for the first time and, of course, which alternative Jennifer would prefer. In his own quiet and effective style, Russ listened to the ideas and concerns of his staff, involving them and assisting them in every way possible.
Russ will be well remembered by the department for his outstanding qualities as a foreign service officer, his exceptional versatility and for his very significant contributions to Canadian foreign policy over his fully thirty-year career.
However, I and his other close friends who were also his colleagues will cherish most our memories of Russ as a dear, loyal and engaging friend. I will always remember our lengthy chats — swapping golf stories sometimes — and more often stories about the humorous or ironical side of our day-to-day work. These were the occasions when Russ’s excellent sense of humour came to the fore, which revealed much about his intelligence, his balance and his priorities for a lifetime that can be much too unpredictable and short.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1996) — Fall 1996 // Automne 1996, pp. 37–38. Read the rest of this issue →
