Consulate Employee Spent Life in Service

David Foy was 51, had served 23 years as a senior chief in the Navy and wanted to continue serving his country. So he signed up for the State Department and spent the last three years in Asia, in Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.

Five months ago, he took over as facilities manager at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, supervising the maintenance staff.

Foy was killed Thursday, along with three other people, when a suicide bomber, who was stopped by consulate security, rammed his car into Foy’s vehicle, throwing it onto the grounds of a nearby Marriott Hotel.

Foy “talked many times about the challenges he had there, between the different languages and their way of repairing things versus our way,” said brother-in-law David Cushing at the family home in North Carolina.

Foy had four daughters, the youngest 20 and in college. Neither the daughters nor Foy’s wife, Donna, lived with him overseas. The State Department has ordered that families of diplomats posted in Pakistan stay outside the country for security reasons.

Cushing said Foy, a golfer and artist in his spare time, enjoyed working in Pakistan despite the dangers.

“Obviously, it was a rough year in Pakistan. He wished it was a little less contentious. He was aware of the risks, but he enjoyed his work.”

The family, Cushing said, “would like him to be portrayed as someone who spent his life serving the country.”