In Memoriam
Jacob Van Lustsenburg Maas (1940-2024)
I will not leave you orphans. . . Jn 14:18
Jacob or “Jack” van Lutsenburg Maas was the youngest of six children in a tight-knit expatriate Dutch family living in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey during the years following WWII. His father worked for the Holland America Line, and the family spent many summers crossing the Atlantic by sea to visit relatives in Holland who had suffered during the war and tour other European locations. The family also contributed financially to supporting Greek war orphans, eventually taking a large number of them into their own home for extended stays. These experiences instilled in Jack a passion for travel, a life-long interest in history and a concern for orphaned children that eventually led him to a career entirely focused on providing educational opportunities for the under-served youth of the world.
After being graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1961, Jack married Robin Hill and went on to take a Master’s degree in Teaching from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Comparative Education from Columbia University Teachers College. His doctoral research and teaching responsibilities soon took him to Uganda where the family spent a total of six years and where two of their three children were born.
Returning to the United States, Jack became the first Sociologist of Education hired by the World Bank in Washington, DC in where he spent 27 years working in the Education Sector, including developing innovative projects for the International Finance Corporation. His particular interest was in financing new instruments on the “demand side” of education in contrast to the traditional “bricks and mortar” inputs typically associated with loans to governments. This involved promoting the financing of scholarships, stipends, vouchers and student loans, especially when targeted to children from low-income families.
After retiring from the World Bank Group in 2001, Jack became involved with the Coordinating Council for International Universities, a charitable organization dedicated to helping establish American Universities abroad. In this capacity he quickly became a key figure in proposing, researching and then helping to establish the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul—a groundbreaking new institution designed to provide college degrees in several subject areas for both men and, most importantly, for young Afghan women previously excluded from this kind of opportunity. This effort represented the true culmination of his many years of service to the cause of providing educational opportunities to youth who, for various reasons, never had the chance to flourish through affordable access to education.
By far Jack’s greatest passion in life, however, was to provide for the protection and support of his own family who now mourn the loss of our great patriarch. He leaves behind Robin, his wife of over 62 years, sons Alexis and Frederik, daughter Julianna Tiss and seven grandchildren: AnnaMarie Rosenburg, Jacob, David Martin, Charlotte and Walter Tiss, and Luciane and Diederik van Lutsenburg Maas.
If you would like to make a donation in his memory, the family requests donations be made to The Jack Maas Memorial Scholarship Fund established at Friends of the American University of Afghanistan—a 501(c) (3) continuing to provide world class higher education to Afghan women and men in Afghanistan. The Jack Maas Memorial Scholarship Fund will support Afghan women who continue to pursue their education online in Afghanistan at American University of Afghanistan (AUAF). AUAF would not exist without Jack Maas.
Submitted by Robin van Lutsenburg Maas (spouse)
