Our esteemed colleague, former AFICS/NY Governing Board and Life Member, Gualtiero Fulcheri passed away on 29 March after suffering a heart attack on board a plane from New York on his way to
Pernes-les-Fontaines, France. His death prompted an outpouring of condolences from friends and coworkers who knew and were inspired by him. Here are excerpts from their recollections:
“Mourad Belkas, Gualtiero’s son called Somendu and I earlier today to give us the very sad news that
Gualtiero passed early this morning … We all will remember Gualtiero with his complete devotion to development and to UNDP's efforts to improve its contribution to developing countries. His profound commitment to the UN and the values that it embodied continued long after he retired.
“Gualtiero was certainly one of a kind – a bon vivant, yet a humanist, a feminist, who also loved people and their children. His sharp mind and dry wit functioned equally in three languages at least. He commanded [such] presence that even on his death, his aircraft was diverted to land in Newfoundland,
Canada!
“He had his premonitions: Somendu and Bob Thompson had lunch with him in Manhattan about ten days earlier. Gualtiero enjoyed his meal, including desert, despite a ribbing from Bob and Somendu and was, as usual, full of stories; but when they parted, he told Somendu that he was wasn't sure if they would meet again. He said he wanted a simple service, no ritual, just wanted his friends to know and be there for him.
It was a privilege to have worked with him and to have known him.
“Mourad will be going to Newfoundland to accompany Gualtiero on his last journey and final rest. The family is planning a memorial service in New York City; the announcement will be made after Mourad returns from Europe. Please feel free to share this e-mail with other friends and former colleagues of
Gualtiero. Should you wish to write to Mourad his e-mail address is belkas@unfpa.org.”
Lina Hamadeh and Somendu Banerjee
“If my memory is right, it was in 1974, after I came to New York from Yemen, when I met Gualtiero for the first time (or was it in 1972 during a workshop in Nicosia?), taking over some of the portfolios he was handling at the time when UNDP was still in the Alcoa Building.
“I remember gratefully the hospitality Gualtiero and you [Mourad and his wife Jameela] had offered to me and my son in your apartment when I came to New York for a mission. … I offer to you my sincere condolences.”
Christoph Jaeger
“Gualtiero was my friend and mentor for so many years. He was such a great story teller and I simply delighted in talking to him. I shall miss him very much.”
Siba Kumar Das
“I met Walter in 1964 when he hired me as one of his assistants. We became friends and used to go to shows together and he introduced me to the latest art and culture – including La Mama down town, although I was a young kid from NY and he was the young "foreign kid" with a long list of friends

from Columbia and the UN. He introduced me to many of his friends and they too became friends of mine.
“He encouraged me to take exams and was very happy to see that I took his advice. He even encouraged me to follow my heart and marry. I lost touch with him and it was [mutual friends] who brought us together again, for which I'm very grateful. We met for lunch when he was in NY and emailed each other and I'm sure we all remember those funny and fascinating stories he shared with us.
“We are all of one mind and heart today and share this sad time and send condolences to his loving family, of whom he was so proud.”
Maxine Field
“I went on my first UNDP mission with Gualtiero in 1973 to Algeria for three weeks. I tried to use my
French and Gualtiero was always there to correct me gently.”
Dede Emerson
“So many times we came to visit Gualtiero in New York in that extraordinary place that he had found, we even slept there...long evenings, lovely friends and endless conversations with anecdotes galore; we have such fond memories of this wonderful man!
“When I once remarked to him my amazement of his being able to tell these thousands of stories, he said that once he would here a story or a joke, it became engraved and would never fly away; … he was such a great storyteller, with immense culture and passion for history, he knew so many things about the past and relished coming up with historical facts and figures, naturally with all the right dates...
“I liked him so much! I had the feeling that he was my confident, as was true for so many of us I suppose!
When I was with my family in Morocco some 30 years ago, he was in charge of the Arab Bureau and came (to the country) many times. He knew Algeria better for having lived there but liked Morocco too, and so many other places especially in the Arab world. He wanted to travel and see projects in Morocco, so we went together. He brought [out] the best in people he met, was such a delightful guest and loved
Moroccan food...
“He had gone to Florida, thinking to retire there, but that did not last long; he got out of there running, because he very quickly missed all his friends, and settled in France. He told me that in retirement, places matter not, only friends matter. There was so much love in this intelligent and erudite man; he could talk for ever but he could also listen, deeply, and be supportive to no end when necessary. I will never forget him.”
Emmanuel de Casterle
“My special memory of Gualtiero was in the 80's when he came to visit us in Morocco. We were in the medina in Fez and a guy at the entrance to his shop asked Gualtiero to go in and look ‘juste pour le plaisir des yeux.’ Gualtiero declined politely but the guy insisted, and when Gualtiero again refused, he became very aggressive and said ‘pourquoi, tu as quelque chose contre les marocains?’ to which Gualtiero replied without missing a beat, ‘non, pas du tout, j'ai juste quelque chose contre les cons.’ We had to beat a hasty retreat! It still makes me laugh to think about it.”
Jennifer de Casterle
“This is the sad loss of a long-time friend whom I met the first time in June 1967, when he, Per (Sjogren) and I were three young guys (Per and Gualtiero junior staff with UNDP, and I a UN Field Service officer), stationed in Amman who went through the six-day war together. I later became a UN

participants’ representative on the Pension Board, together with Gualtiero, and we kept our friendship alive by correspondence and meetings when we happened to be together in Geneva and New York.
“Gualtiero was of great support to FAFICS when, during retirement, he had frequent appointments to run
UNDP offices, particularly in the Middle East. It is thanks to him that FAFICS now has member associations in Egypt and Lebanon. In 2001 he and I organized a petition among UN Field Service staff and retirees, to be presented to Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General, for the introduction of long-term care benefits in the UN's Van Breda health insurance plan for field staff.”
Anders Tholle
“I did not have the same degree of friendship with Gualtiero that [George Saddler and Anders Tholle] had but I held him in much esteem, as a very cordial and bright man since meeting him during my early days in the Dept. of Technical Cooperation when he was a most effective Res. Rep. and I was a senior officer in the Country Programming Branch. Years after and once retired we came closer as members of the AFICS/NY Governing Board when I joined the Board during the last years of George’s presidency and Richard Nottidge’s subsequent years, and the first year(s) of my tenure. I vividly recall his useful role as a kind of liaison with AFICS/NY affiliates in Europe – France in particular – that he would gather together once a year, and that he helped them resolve different kinds of problems with After Service
Health Insurance plans and/or the Pension Fund. Even after he was no longer a member of the Governing
Board of AFICS/NY, Gualtiero would always stop by the office and/or touch base by phone or e-mail as a sustained supporter of the Association and of FAFICS. I am sorry that I did not see him in recent past years. However I gather that he must have continued to enjoy the company of his son, whom he deeply loved and always spoke of, and of his grandchild, both of both he was so proud.”
Andrés Castellanos