Remembering Susan “Tudy” McLaine (1933-25)

International House was saddened to learn of the passing of Susan “Tudy” McLaine ’56, a fixture in the I-House alumni and programmatic community for decades, on June 21 in Ottawa. She was 91.

Born Susan Reed in Boston, MA, she met her Canadian husband Alan McLaine at I-House while she was attending Columbia University’s School of Social Work. After completing his studies in Soviet economics, Alan joined the Canadian Foreign Service, and the McLaines embarked on a 33-year diplomatic career which culminated with Alan’s appointment as the last Canadian Ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1990.

The McLaines hosted the I-House World Council of Alumni meeting in Prague in 1992. Following Alan’s death that same year, the East/West Program at I-House—established with a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 1989 at the end of the Cold War—was renamed for Alan and Tudy McLaine.

Above: The 1992 World Council Meeting in Prague. From left: Sigurdur Helgason ’45 and Unnur Helgason, Barbara and Gordon W. Evans, Tudy and Alan McLaine, Denise and James T. Barton ’56.

The program was created to foster interaction among I-House residents from Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, offering financial assistance, special programming, and leadership training.
Through targeted recruitment, the number of resident members from the region increased from five in 1989 to 79 in 2009, when the program concluded.

For 16 years beginning in 1993, Tudy McLaine returned to I-House each January to help steward “McLaine Week,” which showcased the richness and diversity of the region’s culture, political climate, economics and art.

In the meantime, with the help of others, she established Canadian Friends of International House, which has continued to make grants to I-House residents from Canada, and was a regular attendee at World Council meetings held in New York, Singapore, Cape Town, and New Delhi.

In 2015, in recognition of her many contributions to the House, Tudy McLaine was honored with the Soros Award for Alumni Service during a gala evening at the Rainbow Room in New York. The award was presented by I-House International Trustee Kenneth D. Taylor, former Canadian Ambassador to Iran and longtime friend.

The I-House community worldwide extends deepest condolences to the McLaines’ four daughters and their families. A memorial service will be held in Ottawa on July 19; a full obituary may be found here.