Jacob van Lutsenburg Maas

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. inSociology 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, 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.

The Family will receive friends at the Money and King Funeral Home, 171 W. Maple Ave., Vienna, VA 22180 on Thursday, May 16, 2024 From 5:00 PM Until 7:00 PM. A Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00am on Friday, March 17 at St. John the Beloved Roman Catholic Church, 6420 Linway Terrace, McLean, Virginia. Entombment will follow at Fairfax Memorial Park

In lieu of flowers, 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.

https://friendsofauaf.org/
Friends of the American University of Afghanistan
520 North Washington Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
202-775-5901