Joseph Coolidge Wheeler is retired after a distinguished career at USAID. After a brief stint in the Army Air Corps, he graduated from Bowdoin in 1948 and later received his master’s degree from Harvard. Wheeler joined Sargent Shriver in establishing the Peace Corps, eventually leaving for an esteemed career at USAID.
He headed field missions in Jordan and Pakistan and, in Washington, he served as Assistant Administrator for the Near East and Deputy Administrator. He then was appointed Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) from 1983-1985, then elected to the Chairmanship of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) from 1986-1991. At the end of his career, he returned home to Concord, Massachusetts.