Hold Up Art (photo: Viktoria Radjak)

By Viktoria Rajnak

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – When I was just a teenager, I used to hang out at with friends at the Carpe Diem Café, in the heart of Geneva. We would meet there in the afternoons, but mostly on weekend nights. There were DJs with fresh and new music, a party mood that was always charged and each time was a great time. A couple of years later, I walk into what has replaced it, Hold Up Art, which recently opened.

Standing at the door: I am filled with nostalgic emotions but curious to see the transformation.

The first impression doesn’t disappoint me. A small terrace at the entrance works perfectly well in wintertime, you can smoke shishas covered up in a blanket if you want to. Inside the music is blasting and the lights blinding. It’s like a mini-club with tables and a bar full of people. Hold Up Art is a bar/art lounge of its own style, inspired by Pop Art and Street Art. Other cities they plan to expand to are Paris, London and Dubai.

The pieces of art on display are for sale and new ones come in every month. The ceiling painting is renewed every six months. The interior is in constant change of decoration, and it’s what makes this place exciting to return to. Hold Up want to promote new talents so the DJs are renewed even more frequently than the pieces of art. Everything about it is original, the cage-like DJ booth, shots in what resembles a rack filled with test tubes and the displays downstairs. The place is also available for private events and catering.

The contemporary art all over the place is closely matched by a contemporary attitude making good use of social media: a nice homepage, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Finally someone who is going with the mainstream flow!

The spirit as described on the homepage: “Pass by and see for yourself, weekly new DJ’s, saxo’s, shishas, shots and EVERY DAY WE SHUFFLING !!!”

Hold Up Art

Rue du port 4 , 1204 , Geneva
Homepage: http://www.holdupart.org
Twitter: @HoldUpArtLounge

After 25 years of being heavily into personal development and growth, I have made this my cardinal rule. Ready? Here goes.

Spend the first 90 minutes of your day religiously taking care of what matters most.

That’s it. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Spending the first 90 minutes of your day doing what matters most. But let’s dig a little deeper. In fact, let’s analyze what a typical day for most of us looks like once we get into the office.

Right after getting our must have morning coffee, we usually do one of two things: we open our e-mail app and start firing away or we go into a meeting.
Which really translates into one thing–we start looking and acting busy. Now, if I were to run into you in the hallway and ask you “what is the most important thing that you do to make sure you are successful in your job?” I am willing to bet the answer is not going to be either of those.

Looking good at the office

More likely, it will be things like reflecting on major business issues, talking to clients, developing proposals, writing or other things. What do most of those have in common? Right, you need some peace and quiet to do them–and they don’t look like work.

For years, I went into the office and did meaningless stuff first because I thought it made me look good. I thought that if I went into the office and rushed straight into a meeting, it would give me the image of a go-getting, high-flying super talent. Guess what? Nobody cared.

What my boss, and pretty much anyone else, cared most about was getting results. Results they could see, measure, touch and feel. Results that mattered. Results that–dare I say–made them look good.

It seems like things haven’t changed much: a recent study by the University of St Gallen and London Business School confirms that “only about 10 percent of managers take purposeful action”. The remainder are busy, just not very effective: 40 percent were energetic but unfocused; 30 percent had low energy, little focus and tended to procrastinate; and 10 percent were focused, but not very energetic”.

Once I realized this, I started spending the first 90 minutes of my day doing what matters most. Now, I have coached and worked with entrepreneurs, startup CEOS, future executives and other movers and shakers.

Invariably, when I told them to do what matters most first, two things started happening. Those who tried it say they can’t live without it anymore. Those who didn’t said “I can’t do that, what will people think/what will my team makes of this/what will my boss think”.

Those who tried it told me countless stories of the massive impact it had on their performance and their life. Those who didn’t? Well, there wasn’t much to talk about

90 minutes is all it takes

Spending the first 90 minutes of your day working on what matters most is like the gift that keeps on giving, but a few things jump out from what people have told me they experienced:

• a massive increase in productivity as they take less time to “do the really difficult stuff” when they are at their freshest and most productive
• a flow of new and innovative ideas that often results in dramatic improvements or radical new solutions to tackle problems
• a feeling of achievement and purpose when they look back on their day, week or month and realize all that they’ve accomplished
• a feeling of being in control of their own career and orchestrating events rather than being swept around by them; interestingly enough, this one came from a very senior executive.

Finally, nearly all the people who tried it told me that focusing on what matters most in the first 90 minutes of the day has earned them the reputation of someone who gets things done, someone you can turn to when you need a problem solved and, ultimately, someone whose performance makes him or her stand out by a mile.

So there you go. My Top-5 Performance Hacks. Five principles that I live by on day-to-day basis. Five things that have dramatically and positively impacted my performance and that of many others. And five things that could do the same for you – if you give them a chance and put them into practice.

Ed. note: This is the first in a series published at brandingthroughpeople.com. Republished with permission (note: with slight modifications). Marketing consultant Ago Cluytens has previously contributed guest posts to GenevaLunch.

One thing overseas Americans seem to have systematically overlooked so far, in our efforts to try to bring about changes in the current US tax legislation, is the fact that many in Washington may have their most fundamental core beliefs about taxation not based upon reason at all but elsewhere, and possibly most powerfully in the various versions of Holy Scriptures.

We have traditionally built our appeals almost entirely on the basis of facts, common sense, secular history, and so on. Perhaps we have been fundamentally deluding ourselves in terms of how the process really works today, and what the most powerful neuron motivations really are in the benighted City Upon a Hill.

If we want to have an effective impact on future deliberations in the Congress, and in the Executive Branch, too, we might be well advised to spend some time now trying to build up the metaphysical dimensions of our arguments in favor of what we think would be greater equity in the way we are being treated, and especially as justified by appropriate divine commitments.

If you Google the question: “taxation in the Bible”, as I did this morning, within 6 seconds you will have the option of viewing more than 6 million responses! Wow! Obviously a lot of folks have already been there and done that.

Three of the articles that popped up among the very first on this enormous list are below, as well as a website that has a lot of additional chatter about taxation in the Bible, provocative questions about taxing only “foreigners” and why the role of Jesus in tax issues might have contributed to his crucifixion!

So if we want to be properly prepared from now on when we meet key leaders on the Hill, we should try to get up to speed on their possible meta-fiscal sensitivities and vulnerabilities too. Yes, yes, I know that this is a very sensitive issue. But that doesn’t mean we should simply ignore it.

Here in this summary table is an overall breakdown of religious affiliations of the current members of the 112th Congress.

Now, over to you. Please share your thoughts on this new dimension of our common endeavors.

Could paying attention to this additional dimension of an already immensely complex and highly emotional issue possibly contribute productively to a quicker and more efficient game-changing resolution once and for all?

What Google gave me:

What does the Bible say about paying taxes? by Mary Fairchild, About.com

The Bible speaks on taxation (tribute) by Pastor Art Kohl, Faith Bible Baptist Church, 2002

Taxation, liberty and the Bible – Biblical tax and the various tithes by Martin G Selbrede, The Covenant News, 25 January 2009 . Martin G. Selbrede is the Vice President of the Chalcedon Foundation.

If you want to have some more fun, go to this website and read what this analyst has to say: What is taxed, which starts off with Who would Jesus tax? Data mining the Bible.

Ed. note: Andy Sundberg, founder of American Citizens Abroad and a fellow of the Overseas American Academy, occasionally contributes to this guest blog.

By Andy Sundberg

October 16, 2012, will be the 50th Anniversary of the signing of legislation that brought to an end the right of Americans living and working abroad to compete in world markets under the same terms and conditions as everyone else.

As background text for the solemn jubilee mourning of this sad event, the attached 50 page document has been prepared to help you better understand the myriad arguments that have continued to be put forward to keep justifying not only this strange and uniquely self-destructive fiscal initiative, but also many other changes in US laws and regulations that have been introduced during the last 50 years that also have also contributed to the ever mounting difficulties overseas Americans face all over the world today.

The first steps of this sad story were taken only three months after John F Kennedy became president in January 1961. In a tax reform message addressed to the US Congress, President Kennedy stated on 29 April 1961:

“It is no more justifiable to provide tax exemptions for individuals living in the developed countries than it is to provide tax inducements for capital investment there. Nor should we permit totally unjustified tax benefits to be obtained by those Americans whose choice of residence is dictated primarily by their desire to minimize taxes.

“I, therefore, recommend that the total tax exemption now accorded the earned income of American citizens residing abroad be completely terminated for those residing in economically advanced countries; that this exemption for earned income be limited to $20,000 for those residing in the less developed countries; and that the exemption of $20,000 of earned income now accorded those citizens who stay (but do not reside) abroad for 17 out of 18 months also be completely terminated for those living or traveling in the economically advanced countries.”

Read this again very, very carefully because it will henceforth be set in stone as the subsequent conventional mindset which will be adhered to by both American political parties. There is no virtuous reason why a US citizen would want to live and work abroad. All such decisions are “dictated primarily by their desire to minimize taxes”! How does he know this? He doesn’t say, nor does he or any of his successors ever feel the need to do so.

And this being by definition the default nefarious motivation for living overseas, the US Government obviously should then apply the appropriate punishment and go after overseas Americans, harass them, and keep taxing them no matter where they live and no matter what they might actually be doing. Sadly this negative and retributive attitude will never thereafter change.

The following year, on 16 October, 1962, when a significant portion of President Kennedy’s proposal had quickly been enacted and had now become the new law of the land, he issued the following triumphal statement saying:

“I HAVE today signed H.R. 10650, the Revenue Act of 1962. This is an important bill – one possessing many desirable features which will stimulate the economy and provide a greater measure of fairness in our tax system.

“It includes several provisions designed to reduce tax avoidance on incomes earned by American companies and individuals at home and abroad. By limiting the opportunities to escape tax liability, it makes the distribution of tax burdens fairer and increases our total tax revenues from those sources.

“In summary, this bill makes a good start on bringing our tax structure up to date and provides a favorable context for the overall tax reform program I intend to propose to the next Congress.”

How President Kennedy and his administration came to the conclusion that adding a unique and complicated extra tax burden to US citizens living abroad was supposed to help the economy of the United States is an extremely enigmatic and complicated story, and one whose legacy endures to this day. It established a new orthodoxy that every subsequent administration and Congress has loyally adhered to.

It is also well worth noting that neither President Kennedy, nor his two immediate successors, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, showed any real interest in coupling this extra tax burden with even a modicum of new benefits, nor even the right of overseas Americans to be able to vote in U.S. federal elections. It was history turned upside down and destined to be another period of “taxation without representation” that would make a mockery of one of America’s most fundamental founding principles.

This voting right only eventually became possible fourteen years later after the necessary legislation had finally been enacted during the Ford Administration, and even then it was and would remain a complicated and far from fair process. And, given the role that individual States continue to play up to today in setting some of the most important qualification parameters to vote in their States, many U.S. citizens who are born abroad to parents from these States, and who remain abroad, cannot qualify and still today cannot enjoy this right to vote in Federal elections.

And, sadly but emblematically, no President has ever felt the need to propose offering overseas Americans the right to have their own direct representation in the U.S. Congress, or even to have a separate voice of their own anywhere else in the U.S. Government.

During the subsequent five decades, as the U.S. tax code ballooned from 14,000 to more than 70.000 pages, many nefarious innovations were introduced. The U.S. dollar became the default currency in which overseas Americans were assumed to be transacting all of their financial activities, and so with moving exchange rates they could be making dollar apparent capital gains on transactions in a foreign currency that were actually real life losses. But this didn’t matter. They would be required to declare all such transactions and pay U.S. taxes on these real loses because in dollars they looked like apparent gains. Where they were supposed to find the funds to pay the taxes on these losses would be a problem that overseas Americans had to solve for themselves. But if they failed to declare these transactions, and pay the subsequent U.S. taxes on these losses, they might face not only fines but actually be charged with a felony and be sent to jail.

And then along came the requirement to file annual reports about every foreign bank account that an overseas American possessed, and submit reports about all transactions above a certain minimum amount. And, once again, failure to file such reports could lead to heavy fines and possible jail time, and this, not for having done anything wrong, but just simply for failure to file such reports! And with the new FATCA impositions about to be implemented, this reporting fiasco will explode!

Finally, it merits at least some mention that fifty years ago, before these extra fiscal and financial reporting burdens were put on the shoulders of overseas Americans, and while they were still fully able to compete with the citizens of other countries in the same foreign markets, the United States had enjoyed more than sixty-seven years of unbroken trade surpluses with the rest of the world. During the subsequent decade, after this new toxic tax burden was imposed on those living and working abroad, the U.S. foreign trade position began to weaken, as many had predicted, and a trade deficit appeared for the first time in the 20th century in 1971. As the tax burden on overseas Americans became increasingly heavy and increasingly incomprehensible, these deficits soon became a permanent fixture of U.S. trade performance, and we are now in our 36th straight deficit year with the cumulative amount of these trade deficits now exceeding $8 trillion.

It is not very obvious so far that the current Administration in Washington, despite the enthralling campaign promises that were made in 2008, has any serious interest in leveling the worldwide playing field for trade. The results for the first eleven months of 2011 already show an impressive deficit for this most recent year of more than $500 billion, which is the worst trade performance of the last three years, and this deficit still grows each and every day at a rate in excess of $1.5 billion. The aggregate trade performance for the first three years of the current administration is now a negative $1.4 trillion!

This history of the sad and incomprehensibly self-destructive behavior of the United States during the past 50 years, which is unique among all of the major trading nations of the world today, is well worth reading and contemplating.

As has been stated many times before, major world powers don’t always decline due to destruction coming from outside. They sometimes infect themselves with terminal obsessions from within that, alas, seem to then become incurable. This doesn’t have to happen this time to Uncle Sam, but to avoid it something rather urgent needs to be done before it becomes too late.

So Let Us Now All Rise Up, Join Together to Throw off These Shackles, and Take Appropriate Action to Prepare for a Much More Positive Future for All of Us, our Heirs and for Our Country. After five decades of living passively with increasing insults and incomprehensible harassment, now is the time for overseas Americans everywhere to join together to resist our government’s self-destructive behavior.

Let’s get appropriately organized to work creatively, diligently and effectively to reclaim our rights to be respected and to be able once again to compete all over the world free of the self-defeating impositions that have been so gratuitously imposed upon us by our own U.S. Government. We need to bring back the respect and fundamental rights we once all enjoyed, and that we fully deserve to all enjoy once again. Let’s go for it! As our nation’s history has clearly shown, working together the right way really works!

Andy Sundberg is a Fellow and Secretary, the Overseas American Academy, Geneva

We all felt the pressure to find the perfect gifts for our loved ones for Christmas.

Let me introduce you to two of my favorite shops in Geneva that share a similar concept: Hot Box and Butterfly, both of which were great for gifts, and now that the January sales are here young people will be heading back through their doors.

Hot Box

Once you’ve passed the doorstep it’s difficult to leave empty-handed unless your wallet is anorexic.

My friends and family know that if they get me something from here they cannot get it wrong. I believe this is the case for many young people.

As I enter the shop, several different events present themselves in my head: cozy sweatpants for home, jackets for the ski slopes, dresses for a party, or jeans for just an ordinary day. Sporty, elegant, chic—you name it! You can go for any style you like.

The shelves are packed with well-known jeans brands all the way up to the roof. The tags include 7 for all mankind, Citizens of Humanity, J Brand, Blank NYC and many more. The rest of the shelves are neatly filled with Juicy Couture sets, Scarlett sweaters in all the colors of the rainbow, as well as funky t-shirts with text. Latest item in is the Alberto Bini cashmere sweater with the words “Love” or “Dream” written on the back.

On one hanger there’s fur, on the next one you see glitter.  Sparkling party tops and dresses, beautiful tunics with studs, sequins or Swarovski crystals. Suspended are Moncler and Parajumpers jackets and vests.  The small goodies around the cashier’ s desk look very tempting to the eyes:  Hanky Panky lace thongs, fun bracelets, and unique belts.

And that’s not all! The other half of Hot Box is for men. I recommend the beautiful shirts from Drunkenoala. The shirts have either an accent color, or a pattern on the collar, the end of the sleeves and on the seam down the middle. Very classy!

The clothes are very popular among students. Despite that they only have a number of copies of each item, I ran into a friend dressed in the same top I was wearing at last year’s New Year’s party in the mountains. We both burst into laughter, taken by surprise.

An extra little detail that I love is the fragrance of the shop that follows you home in the paper wrapped around the clothes. There is a certain magic of scents. They can evoke memories and feelings. Sort of a discrete marketing trick – reminds you of the shop.

Addresses in Geneva:

Hot Box: 1^st floor, Confédération Centre de Genève
Butterfly: 4, Rue du vieux-collège

Viktoria Rajnak is a business student at HEC in Geneva, where she has lived since 2003. She writes a blog, Remove Before Flight Blog and she will be contributing occasional guest posts here on a variety of topics including nightlift and shopping in Geneva.

Jack Widdowson 3 November in Bern:Ballett performance, "Ein Winternachtstraum" (photo©2011, Stadttheater/Philipp Zinniker)

From Cathy Marston

Jack has been an apprentice dancer with the Bern:Ballett since August through our collaboration with the London Contemporary Dance School. He is on a post-Graduate course in performance.

Although he only started dancing a few years ago he has enormous talent.

His creativity and dedication are inspiring to all around him and he is very hungry to learn from the experienced dancers around him.

On Thursday 3 November he danced the role of Demetrius in our world premiere “Ein Winternachtstraum” (“A Mid-Winter’s Nights Dream”, after Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream) with my choreography.

He had jumped into this solo role from the corps de ballet after another one of the company’s dancers broke his arm three weeks beforehand. Jack was wonderful on stage and displayed a great ‘presence.’

(photo©2011, Stadttheater/Philipp Zinniker)

(photo©2011, Stadttheater/Philipp Zinniker)

As choreographer and director of the Bern:Ballett I am devastated that such a talent may not be able to develop.

The dancers of the company are shocked and upset; Jack is a much loved, funny and kind colleague.

We are hopeful though, that his determination to recover will bring him back to us in due course.’

Thank you for your work to find the person who did this to Jack.

Cathy Marston

Ed. note: Read Antonio Padron’s earlier guest blog on GenevaLunch, for background:  an interview with Anouar Gharbi, president of Right for All

I had been wanting to report to people in Latin America and Switzerland about the plight of the Palestinian people. I decided to interview Anouar Gharbi and express my wish to him to  join the boat, “Freedom Flotilla 2″.

It was late in the afternoon and I was anxious.  I had heard that hundreds of people applied for the chance to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and I there would be no chance that I, a small freelance reporter from Cuba, would be selected. I decided to take my chances and call Anouar Gharbi to let him know of my worries. He said it was not looking good, but that he would try for my name to be selected.

I woke up the next day and my heart sank; I had not received a call from his secretary. I believed that now I would not be able to tell this story to the Cuban and Swiss people. I went to check my email and there was a message from Anouar Ghabi confirming that I had been selected to go onboard the Swiss and German boat as part of the flotilla to Gaza. I wanted to jump with excitement.

I was told there was to be a meeting in Bern. The meeting would be an information session by a Swiss government department to inform us about the kind of things we could expect on this adventure. There was the possibility of encountering danger, as happened with a Turkish boat when it was boarded by Israeli forces last May.

I headed for Athens in order to get to Corfu were I was told by the organizers that the ship, the “Stephano Corini” would be docked. I had never been to Greece before and I was not disappointed: the country is beautiful, especially the land of Corfu where the beaches remind me of my own country.

I settled down in the modest but very comfortable hotel the organizers had recommended, then received a telephone call instructing me to fly from Corfu to Athens to meet the organizers and other activists for a briefing about the kind of things we might encounter during this adventure. I thought to myself after the meeting that maybe this is not a good idea. We went through all the possible scenarios and it was pretty scary to know that Israeli forces might react with violence. But in the end I thought that to tell the story it was worth embarking on this endeavor. I headed back to Corfu, where we expected to sail in the next three days.

For the next two days we were constantly briefed by the organizers about the progress of negotiations with the Greek government and the apparent pressure put on by the Israeli government to not allow the flotilla to sail from Greece. We were not discouraged by the news. We tried to relax on the beach, enjoy the sun and have a good time between information sessions and constant drills.

On the fifth day the Greek government told our organizers that they had decided the flotilla would not be allowed to sail. Spirits fell in the group. Some started to pack up and head home due to the frustration and economic strain of the endeavor.

But there were some who refused to give up, such as American ex-marine Brian Curdy, who went from the jungles of Vietnam to the American base in my country, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He told me his government had lied to him during the cold war and that he felt betrayed, and he felt it was his duty to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. He was wounded by a mortar in Vietnam and he felt that the Vietnamese had all the right in the world to fight against the American soldiers.

The thing that amazed me the most about the flotilla is that there are people who are willing to put their lives at risk and to spend their own limited personal resources for such a worthy cause.

The trip did not come through. But I am sure that it will not be the last time such an effort will be made and I believe that one day I will be able to take that trip to Palestine.

Anouar Gharbi was born in Tunisia; he is the president of Right for all/Droit pour Tous, created in 2000. He and his family live in Geneva.

I first met Anouar Gharbi on a clear and beautiful day in April. He does not at first look like an activist involved in pro-Palestinian activities, but more like a lawyer representing angry wives and jealous husbands. When you speak with him, you notice that his soft-spoken voice disguises an iron determination to have his voice heard.

When he talks about the Middle-East, Gharbi is candid but frank. He thinks the “Arab Awakening” is a positive step in the right direction. But he quickly points out that the Arabs have a long way to go. It is not enough that the Egyptian and Tunisian people and many others have said “enough is enough”.

“Democracy is a process, not a quick militant action.” He notes that Israel can no longer call itself the only democracy in the Middle East. “Hope is alive,” Gharbi says, after seeing the millions who turned out to protest and demand change.

On Osama Bin Laden: Gharbi comments that Al-Qaida’s philosophy of violent jihad has become irrelevant, even completely outrageous. “The people want change. The men in power in the Middle East need to hear the voices of their populations. It is not enough to change faces; it is necessary to change policy. Many Arab leaders have supported the anti-Israeli resistance, but have not heard the cries from their people. In order for there to be progress, the people must be heard.”

On Syrian President Bashar Al Assad: Gharbi will tell you that his support for the many Arab resistance groups such as Hamas, PFLP and
Hezbollah, has been exemplary. “A strong Arab, but he has lost the support of his people by repressing them.”

Gharbi calls the situation in Gaza “catastrophic. The people in Gaza lack medical supplies and they live on donations. It does not help that the Israeli government has stopped all necessary aid from reaching the Palestinian population. That is the main idea of the flotilla to Gaza, to break the siege imposed by Israel. The international community must understand that in order to help the population in Gaza, the right amount of pressure must be put on Israel.”

When asked if Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side, he quickly points out that the Palestinian people must first be allowed to choose their own government without facing negative consequences from the international community. “They must be supported,” he says. “There are extremist forces on both sides.  There are those who want peace and those who want confrontation. In order for both people to live side by side, both sides must be heard and their opinions and rights must be respected. In relation to the rocket attacks by Hamas, both sides have accused each other of starting the offensive.”

Gharbi’s decision to establish his organization, Droit pour Tout, followed the 2000 visit by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Al Aqsa-mosque. “We are different peoples. This does not mean we can’t live together, it just means that we must each respect our differences.”

We turn our conversation to the September 11th terrorist attacks against the United States. When asked about conspiracy theories, he pauses and reflects. “While the attacks were most definitively perpetrated by Al Qaida, it would be a terrible mistake to think that the attacks did not help to serve long-held American interests to control and occupy the Middle East” for the region’s vast natural resources. “It was a shame that Osama Bin Laden could not be brought to trial. A lot of questions remain on this subject.”

The decision to form a no-fly zone over Libya is a controversial one for him. Western governments’ intentions might appear honest but their economic interests are ever-present and no one seems to pose the question, why Libya and why not Syria. “It is a dangerous game that Nato  is playing,” Gharbi says.

Gharbi argues that “pressure must be put on the Israeli government to respect United Nations resolutions”, noting that the only resolution the Israelis seem to respect is the foundation of the Jewish state. “Why hasn’t Israel been bombarded yet?” The international community decided to bomb Iraq because it did not respect the international community’s decisions, he points out, and Arabs are still waiting for the international community to say to Israel that “enough is enough”.

It was with great sadness that I learned that Don Curtis, a wonderful American who had been living here in Geneva for many years, had passed away last week on the 16th of June.

There will be a memorial service for Don at 3pm on Thursday, the 23rd of June, at the Emmanuel Church (formerly the American Church), 3 Rue de Monthoux, across the street from the Kempinski Hotel.

His family has asked that instead of flowers, you might want to consider a donation to the foundation, “SOS Villages d’Enfants Suisse, Cp 30-31935-2.”

Don was the former head of the Vestry at the American Church when I served as one of his colleagues there a decade ago.

He was a most kind and gentle leader, with much creativity, enthusiasm and generosity.

As this story published by Forbes in 2009 also indicates, Don was an active participant in the overseas American tax arena, as chief executive of Curtis & Co., and he was a key provider of much needed advice for many Americans here in Geneva.

Ed. note: Andy Sundberg, founder of American Citizens Abroad, occasionally contributes to this guest blog.