With sadness, the United Board shares the recent loss of two members of our extended family. Our former staff member Donald McComb passed away on April 7 from complications of COVID-19. Charles Booth, our former trustee, passed away on April 19 from lymphoma.

Don McComb was the United Board’s Director of Finance for more than 26 years, until his retirement in 2018. He combined financial acumen with an appreciation for Christian higher education, which he developed during his earlier service as bursar of Chung Chi College in Hong Kong. Don’s collegiality turned coworkers into friends, and he continued to nurture those relationships in his retirement years. He was the driving force behind a 2014 reunion of former United Board staff, an occasion that enabled faithful friends to return to our office and share memories, fellowship, and laughter.

Charlie Booth served as a United Board Trustee from 2000 to 2009. During those years, we benefited from his keen understanding of financial markets, which he developed over the course of a distinguished career in investment banking and generously shared as the chair of our Investment Committee. He continued to serve on the Investment Committee for an additional three years after his terms as Trustee ended. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Charlie was a natural choice to serve as one of the United Board’s representatives to the Harvard-Yenching Institute’s Board of Trustees. Charlie’s philanthropic spirit touched many organizations, and the United Board is blessed to have been included among them.

We send our condolences and prayers to the families and loved ones of Don McComb and Charlie Booth.