David Bathrick, who served with USAID for more than two decades and was a key advocate in the U.S. for the importance of agricultural development, has died at the age of 84.
Bathrick — a retired USAID minister-counselor, and recipient of a USAID Meritorious Honor Award — died from cancer on Nov. 4, 2025.
He first joined USAID in the late 1960s, when agriculture was still a major focus of the agency’s work but — along with many other donors — its investment in the sector began to decline precipitously from the 1980s onward. From the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, according to a white paper Bathrick authored, agriculture fell from 26% of USAID’s budget to just 2%.