Daniel C. Lefebvre Sr.

Lefebvre, Daniel C. Sr., 89 Daniel C. Lefebvre, Sr., was born in Ferret France, on April 5, 1921, a son to the late Louis and Charlotte Lefebvre. Daniel was educated in Cologne, Germany. He left Germany at the start of World War II and returned to France during its occupation. Daniel left France to escape arrest by the Nazis and he walked across the rugged Pyrenees Mountains to get to Spain where he was eventually arrested and put in a Spanish prison camp for nine months. He obtained a Canadian flyer's identity and was released to the custody of the Canadian Red Cross. He then came to the United States and began to train with the Army Air Corps as a flight navigator. Remaining in the U.S. after the war, he was posted to Washington as a delegate to the newly created Electricity de France, overseeing the reconstruction (under the Lend Lease agreement and Marshall Plan) of numerous power plants. He also worked closely with U.S. Officials on the nascent nuclear energy program. In late 1958, Daniel Lefebvre opened his own engineering office in Washington (French Engineering Bureau), all the while continuing to be the EDF representative in the United States. He also became the representative for Gaz de France and for some of the most prestigious French engineering firms: Indatom, Bureau d'Etudes pour la France d'outre-mer (BCEOM), Sofrerail (SNCF), Ingeroute, Sofrelec, Sogelerg, Sofresid, Sofrecom, and so on. Thanks to his personal contacts with international financial organizations (the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations special fund, US-AID), his client companies obtained a growing number of contracts for various projects in some 60 developing countries. In 1991 he was elected a member of the Conseil Superieur des Francais de lEtranger. Daniel Lefebvre was made Chevalier of the Order of Merit in 1976 and more recently, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Daniel Lefebvre was a 33rd degree Freemason, and a member of Potomac Lodge #5 in Virginia. He was also a Shriner. Mr. Lefebvre supported a number of other charitable causes, a number of them devoted to supporting children. There was a special place in his heart for his Yorkshire Terrier, Bugatti and his devoted Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Ginger. He became a U.S. Citizen in 1991, and he retired to his second home in Laconia, NH. Soon thereafter, moving to his beloved mountain house in the "Great North Woods", Pittsburg, New Hampshire. He is survived by his former wife, Denise R. Lefebvre; a daughter, Jacqueline Lamb and her husband Douglas, of Falls Church, VA.; a son, Daniel C. Lefebvre Jr., of Falls Church; three grandsons, Mitchell and Marshall Lamb and Daniel C. Lefebvre III (Charlie); and two nephews, Francois Carry and Jean- Christophe Carry; and two nieces, Elisabeth Renaud and Agnes Coquillard. A memorial service will be held on January 8, 2011, 12 noon at Saint Ann's Catholic Church, 4001 Yuma Street Northwest, Washington, DC.