Albert C. Cizauskas

    U.S. Diplomat

      Albert C. Cizauskas, 82, devoted husband and father of five, US diplomat, economist, author, and devout Catholic, died of complications related to Parkinson's Disease on April 3, 2002 in his home in Falls Church, VA in the loving company of his family.
      Mr. Cizauskas was born on March 1, 1920 to immigrants from Lithuania in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY. His parents, Michael and Anna Cizauskas, had emigrated from Lithuania early in the 20th Century. Michael was a tailor, working in the garment industry until crippled by a heart attack. Anna and the older children then became family breadwinners. Only Mr. Cizauskas and his sister, Olga, finished high school.
      Mr. Cizauskas, however, was the only one of the five children to attend university, Manhattan College, courtesy of a scholarship. He majored in English literature preparing for a then-intended career in the teaching profession. He received his B.A. degree, cum laude, in 1942.
      Mr. Cizauskas went on to Notre Dame University, winning his Master's in Arts, cum laude, in English Literature, and teaching freshman English as a graduate assistant. He would later matriculate at Yale University, earning an M.A. in Economics. He returned to Brooklyn to teach English at Bishop Loughlin High School, from which he had earlier graduated.
      Like many patriotic Americans during World War II, Mr. Cizauskas attempted to enlist with the military. He was rejected due to a health problem. So, in 1945, when offered the choice between a career as a reporter for Time Magazine or service to his nation, Mr. Cizauskas applied for and was accepted as a diplomat in the Foreign Service of the United States Department of State.
      His initial posting was to Karachi, British colonial India, now Pakistan. From May 1947 to June 1948, he was assigned to economic and commercial reporting for the Consulate General in Batavia, Netherlands Indies (now the Embassy at Djakarta, Indonesia). In the following year he was assigned to Batavia.
      In July 1948, Mr. Cizauskas was transferred back to Washington, D.C. and detailed to the Department of Commerce for advanced officers' training. In October 1948, he was classified as an "International Trade Economist" and was assigned to the Indonesian desk in the Areas Division of the former Office of International Trade of the Department of Commerce, where he worked on Indonesian and other south-east Asian economic problems. During this tenure, He took the opportunity to take two courses in Introductory Economics at the George Washington University.
      He would often spends weekends back in Brooklyn. On one of his returns, he would meet his future bride, Genovaite (Gene) Ambraziejus at a Lithuanian literary function. (Throughout his life, Mr. Cizauskas maintained his involvement in Lithuanian issues, supporting its causes and writing extensively on Lithuania's history and struggle for independence.)
      Genovaite and he were married on September 17, 1949. The couple honeymooned on the island nation of Bermuda. However it was their next adventure that the newly-married couple regarded as their true honeymoon: an 8-week freighter voyage to the just independent Indonesia. Initially posted to Jakarta, Mr. Cizauskas was soon appointed US consul for Surabaya, Java, then considered second to the capitol as Indonesia's most important economic center. He directed all economic and commercial reporting. Here, he and Genovaite celebrated the birth of their first child, Albert, Jr.
      In October 1952, he was posted to Milan as a vice consul. His responsibilities included economic and commercial reporting, Milan, at that time, being the economic hub of Italy. Robert Paul, Albert and Genovaite's second child, was born in Milan.
      Returning to the US in November 1955, Mr. Cizauskas was assigned as an Intelligence Research Specialist in economic affairs for southern Europe, specifically Italy, Spain, and Portugal. He spent a year at Yale University, studying under, among others, James Tobin, a future Nobel Prize winner. He received an MA in Economics in 1957.
      His ensuing assignment was for two years as a desk officer for German affairs at the State Department. He celebrated the birth of his third child, Thomas Joseph, while living in Arlington, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC.
      In 1960, armed with German language training, he was posted to the US Embassy in Bonn, Germany. He and Genovaite served there until 1966, during which time their daughter, Carol Anne, and son, Richard Michael, were born.
      Returning with his family to the States in the spring of 1966, Mr. Cizauskas was posted to the Department of State in Washington, DC. Here, he joined the unit that represented the U.S. at multilateral debt restructuring meetings. He pioneered work in the fields of debt forgiveness and debt rescheduling for developing nations. His efforts proved crucial in restructuring the debt of Indonesia. In fact, the resulting agreement was the first that rescheduled commercial credits on concessional terms for any nation. Mr. Cizauskas would later write a retrospective article on the renegotiation of developing country debt, International Debt Renegotiation: Lessons from the Past (World Development, 1979). In 1985, Dutch TV Nederland interviewed Mr. Cizauskas about his role.
      In 1969, Mr. Cizauskas retired from the Foreign Service.
      Immediately thereafter, Mr. Cizauskas joined the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development, more commonly known as the World Bank. There, he worked on establishing and improving the credit worthiness of emerging nations. He would become the Bank's representative to the semi-annual convocations of the Berne Union (The International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers).
      To the Berne Union, Mr. Cizauskas would convey the Bank's analysis of debtor nations; to the World Bank, he would report on the views of the Berne Union participants. From this association, Mr. Cizauskas developed his July 1980 Working Paper, The Changing Nature of Export Finance and its Implication for Development Countries.
      The working paper became the Bank's key reference document on national export credit insurers and their role in providing finance to developing countries. From the World Bank synopsis:

      Official support for financing exports has become a complex,
      highly-subsidized form of assistance to promote foreign sales,
      especially of manufactures and capital goods. Spurred on by
      sharper competition among industrialized countries, the evolution
      in export finance has important implications for developing countries.
      One is the availability of a growing source of external capital
      on terms below prevailing market costs. Another is the emergence
      of the more advanced developing countries as providers of subsidized
      finance to promote their own rising exports of manufactures.
      Mr. Cizauskas retired from the World Bank in 1982 but continued to consult and contribute papers on international monetary affairs as a member of First Washington Associates.
      Mr. Cizauskas also devoted his efforts to researching and writing upon matters concerning the soon to be independent Lithuania. He was a frequent contributor to Bridges, Lithuanian Heritage, and the Foreign Service Journal, among others. He was an active member of the Knights of Lithuania, through which he promoted recognition of the role of Lithuanian noble Thaddeus Kosciusko in American independence.
      He was an active parishioner of St. James Church of Falls Church, VA.
      Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Genovaite A. Cizauskas of Falls Church, VA, and five children: Albert Cizauskas, Jr. of Annandale, VA, Robert Paul Cizauskas and daughter-in-law Deborah Cizauskas, Carol Cizauskas of Reno, NV, Thomas Joseph Cizauskas of Falls Church, VA, Richard Michael Cizauskas of Salt Lake City, UT, and many other nieces, nephews, and friends.
      Mr. Cizauskas was a lifelong advocate for the beauty of the written word. The family requests, therefore, that contributions in Mr. Cizauskas' name be made to the library of one's choice.


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