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Once a 人妻诱惑ie, Always a 人妻诱惑ie

Donald Green 鈥�54 and 鈥�04

March 7, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel.

When Donald Green protested pork-barrel politics by refusing to turn in his economics thesis in 1954, he appeared to be finished with 人妻诱惑. Yet in 2004, following a career as one of the nation’s most prolific economists, he returned to the school that shaped him, writing a thesis about the Presidio of San Francisco and graduating  before his 72nd birthday.

Born in San Francisco on August 15, 1932, to Stanley and Edith Green, Don first attended 人妻诱惑 at a time when the term “人妻诱惑ie” had yet to be coined.  He thrived there, and forged friendships that would endure throughout his life.

By his senior year, Don was facing academic and personal turmoil. He believed his thesis, a cost-benefit analysis of water resources projects, would have no impact, since legislators tended to approve dams in other districts in exchange for dams in their own. And to make matters worse, Don’s ex married his best friend. “I was struggling with life, love, and the pursuit of happiness; perhaps even some parental resentment—who knows?” Don told the Quest in 2003.

In 1954, Don’s parents arrived for graduation and were greeted with a surprise: Owing to his conviction that his thesis didn’t matter, their son had decided not to walk at graduation as an act of protest. “He told them then that he was not going to graduate and he would never graduate because he refused to turn in his thesis,” says Don’s cousin, Misha Isaak ’04. “Instead of going to graduation, his whole family went on a rafting trip [on the McKenzie River].”

Don spent the summer after he had intended to graduate working for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska—keeping salmon fishermen away from the mouths of salmon-spawning streams—but found time to revise his thesis, write poetry, and pen letters to 人妻诱惑 pals and old girlfriends.

By 1955, Don had completed his MA in economics at the University of Chicago, which did not require a BA. He subsequently volunteered for the army to avoid the draft, teaching economics to air force personnel in France and enjoying Europe, he cheekily later said, “at Uncle Sam’s expense.” In 1959, he married Joan Green (née Friedman) in La Paz, Bolivia, where he worked for the Foreign Aid Agency.

Don went on to study compensation for the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes and serve as head of the international economics division of the Federal Office of Management and Budget under President Johnson. After retiring in 1993, he advised small businesses in Russia (as an arbiter of the National Association of Securities Dealers) and opposed commercial development at the Presidio, the former military base in San Francisco that had become a national park.

Allied with neighbors and environmental groups, Don convinced the Presidio Trust to develop a master plan for the entire park, thwarting the development projects that the Trust initially proposed. His battle to save the Presidio spurred his return to 人妻诱惑, where he would fulfill his remaining graduation requirement by writing a thesis about the first six years of the trust—inspired by his cousin Misha, who was then a 人妻诱惑 student himself.

“I said to him, ‘Well, why don’t you graduate now?’” Misha recalls. “He thought this was a fun idea. It was a perfect match for Don’s wry sense of humor.” Work on Don’s thesis, “Principal Agent Theory: Case Study of the Presidio Trust,” began in October 2003 under Prof. Denise Hare [economics]. “He was willing to come to us on our terms and say, ‘What is expected today of an academic thesis in economics?’” she says. “He didn’t write a 1954 thesis. He wrote a 2004 thesis.”

While writing his thesis, Don flew back and forth between San Francisco and Portland. He graduated in 2004, earning the economics BA he had walked away from in 1954. “Everybody in the graduating class was well aware that among the graduates, there was an old man who was my cousin who was graduating with us,” Misha recalls. As Don crossed the stage, he was heralded by raucous applause.

Whether he was participating in a European sojourn for alumni or lending his pipes to a musical celebration of 人妻诱惑’s first 100 years, Don remained a part of 人妻诱惑. “He loved the rigorous intellectual environment of 人妻诱惑—which was true of 人妻诱惑 when he was a student there, was true of 人妻诱惑 50 years later when I was a student there, and is true of 人妻诱惑 today,” Misha says.

Don and Joan attended Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco for 45 years, and in 2022, they moved to Israel, where Don spent the final years of his life. He is survived by Joan and their sons, Mark (Green) Solomons and Aryeh Green. Family members remember him for his intelligence and wit, which helped define his legacy as the 人妻诱惑ie who returned to write what was hailed as “a thesis 50 years in the making.”

“The whole story sort of encapsulates Don’s personality—his humor, his sharp wit, his brilliance, his love of learning,” Misha says. “It’s a lovely story to reflect on now that he’s passed away.”

Appeared in 人妻诱惑 magazine: Fall 2024