Scott Danaher
Quito, Ecuador
Spouse: Ana Maria Prieto-Danaher
Children: Patrick / Tommy / Joseph
Education: University of Michigan, Bachelor of General Studies - 1976 / The American University, MA in Development Finance - 1988
Bio: I joined the US Foreign Service in 1978, then served as a diplomat for 27 years in 12 postings scattered across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, plus six years in Washington. I retired from the Service in 2008, then spent another 11 years working for the State Department as a contractor in Washington and Kenya.
Living the diplomatic life abroad was a joy for me, beyond my wildest dreams, but it proved to be very hard on my wives and children. My first marriage was already in ruins when my first-born Patrick died, a toddler in Nigeria. For the first 14 years of my second marriage, my second wife Ana and our sons were US citizens who had never lived full-time in America. It proved best that we came back to the US for the boys’ middle school and high school years.
Now I am fully retired, residing with Ana in Quito, where she serves in the US Embassy; our boys work & study in Virginia. These days my only life goal is staying heathy and socially distanced; thankfully, the Embassy just provided us the Moderna vaccination. Not sure where our future will take us from here, but at least we are much less likely to die first from COVID.
While I miss Michigan’s finer points (friends, Leelanau Peninsula, A², the spring & fall), the call of broader horizons and more eclectic experiences has kept me away for almost 30 years.
Words I have always lived by: “…peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god.” (Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle)
My photos:
Ana, Tommy, Joseph - Machu Picchu, Peru / 2009 Ana, Tommy, Joseph - Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo / 2017 Scott, Ana - Women's March, Wash DC / 2020 family & best friends