Catherine Savino Obituary

Catherine Savino of Alexandria, VA passed away on died Friday, August 1, 2025. Cathy, the oldest of four siblings, was born in 1952 to parents Mary and Patrick Savino in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She graduated from Eastern Connecticut State College before beginning her world travels. She lived in Panama, Thailand and Morocco over the next nine years.
During her four years in Thailand, Cathy helped implement The Orderly Departure Program office of the U.S. in Bangkok. ODP was created in 1979 under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a means for Vietnamese refugees to leave their homeland safely and be resettled abroad.
Upon her return to the States and completion of her master's degree in public health at Emory University, Cathy began her distinguished career with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the early 1990s. Over the course of more than three decades, she played a pivotal role in the Agency's work through a series of institutional contracts that supported Congressional earmarks. Her work had a profound and lasting impact on some of the world's most vulnerable populations—civilian victims of war, persons with disabilities, vulnerable children, and survivors of torture and trauma
Cathy's legacy is one of dedication, innovation, and compassion. Her contributions have left an indelible mark on USAID's work and on the lives of countless individuals in developing countries around the world.
She is pre-deceased by her sister, Patricia, and survived by a brother and sister, Thomas and Mary, her nephews William, Victor and Hudson and nieces Sophia and Eve. Cathy is also survived by an incredible number of close friends, who cannot be named for fear of missing somebody.
No service. More information on her life and impact here: