Martha Scoville Fetherolf Loutfi

WEST CORNWALL —Martha Scoville Fetherolf Loutfi of West Cornwall and Geneva, Switzerland, passed away peacefully Feb. 12, 2023, after bravely facing a long illness. 

Martha was born in New York City, July 1, 1940, to James M. and Eloise Fetherolf (nee Cheney) and grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut,  and White Plains, New York.

She was an alumna of Rosemary Hall (’58) and Wellesley College (AB ’62) She was very attached to her alma maters and the friendships developed there. At Wellesley, Martha was one of the economics students who benefited from the extraordinary mentorship of Carolyn Shaw Bell. Martha earned a Ph.D in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1966 with a thesis on Japanese foreign aid. 

Her interest in Japan and the Far East was sparked during a trip around the world with her loving brother, Dr. Edward Fetherolf, and continued throughout her life. Martha collected Japanese art and became a very good cook of Asian-inspired food.

She married a fellow economics doctoral student, Mohamed A. Loutfi of Alexandria, Egypt in 1964. They both joined the economics faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Canada until moving to Beirut, Lebanon where Mohamed joined the United Nations and Martha taught at the American University. After being evacuated from Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, the Loutfis moved to Geneva.

Martha was very proud of the work she carried out as part of the Secretariat of the Independent Commission for International Developmental Issues (Brandt Commission) with the aim to review international development issues under the leadership of former Chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt, from 1977-79. The Commission’s report provided an understanding of drastic differences in the economic development of the Global North and Global South.

Martha joined the International Labour Office in 1980 where she would work until her retirement in 2000. She started her career in the Development Department where she managed and coordinated the Program on Rural Women. Her responsibilities also included the development of the Rural Employment Policies’ Branch Programs. 

She published seminal works that sought to make women’s work visible and to value the contributions of women to economic development, (“Rural Women: Unequal Partners in Development” and “Women, Gender and Work: What is Equality and How Do We Get There?”) 

In 1993, Martha became the Editor-in-Chief of the International Labour Review where she was responsible for attracting and editing several notable academics and improving the journal’s editorial quality.

After retirement, Martha spent time in Nice, France, and West Cornwall where her father’s family had roots, and Geneva.

Always interested in art and music, she was an avid concert and exhibition goer. She became an excellent photographer and exhibited her photographs in both Connecticut and Geneva. She also shared them with friends and family in an annual calendar she lovingly prepared. Always an excellent cook, Martha was known for the delicious lunches and dinners she carefully prepared for her friends, always accompanied with good wine and conversation.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband. She leaves behind her brother, two nieces, and many cousins and close friends.

Her life will be celebrated at a service on Oct. 1,  2023, at 2 p.m. at the North Cornwall Meeting House.