With all that is going on in the current Administration regarding refugees, I found myself googling Roger and just learned of his passing.
I was his assistant when he first joined the U.S. Committee for Refugees in the early 1980s.  What I remember so clearly about him is his kindness, authenticity and that he saw  my potential at a time when I didn't see it myself.  I have deep admiration for him and the work he has done throughout his life and I am sending warm thoughts to his family. I am so sorry about your loss of this wonderful man.

I've worked in the USG on humanitarian (refugee) issues for more than four decades, and always smiled when I saw Roger in a meeting, whether he was in government or working for a non-governmental organization.  I associate him strongly with Sudan, and smiled when I saw that the charity recommended for his memory is a Sudan Project.  Roger's family will not need me to remind them of Roger's dedication to humanitarian principles or the energy he brought to his work.  I will always think of him as among the best who worked in my field.  I am sorry for your loss, and hope this recollection will bring some peace.

Dear Winter Family & Friends, please accept my condolences on your great loss.  In addition to being a role model for so many of us in the humanitarian field with his kindness,  North Star guidance, and strategic insight, Roger played a pivotal role in my life and career. We met while I was the Director of the Coalition for the Protection of Vietnamese Boat People, of which USCR was a member.  A few years later, Roger asked me to come work for USCR.  It was 1983, and he created a position for me as "Policy/Media Coordinator".  
I have many great memories of working with Roger.  One day, Roger asked me to write some testimony for his appearance before a Congressional Committee.  I attended the hearing with him and as the panel before his started to finish, he turned to me and said, “Nancy, I think you should give the testimony,” and he got up and left!!! 

I ran to the ladies’ room, into a stall, took a few deep breaths and went back to sit with the next panel.  “The next panelist is Roger Winter, Director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees.”  I answered, “Well, I am obviously not Roger Winter; I apologize on his behalf, but he had to leave on short notice.”  I proceeded to give the testimony, and it was a life-long confidence building experience Roger provided me with, that I will never forget.  RIP Roger.  Respectfully, Nancy Rindner Iris  


I still believe I was a lucky person to have had the opportunity to go on a TDY with the late A/AA Roger Winter.  He was truly an embodiment of USAID’s humanitarian and diplomatic wings.  I found him to be down to earth with a great respect and affection to the poorest of poor farmers in all three West African countries I travel to with him and other high level USA dignitaries as well as host-country partners and colleagues.  

The depth of his experiences, skills and knowledge, his unparalleled skills to communicate with “strangers” and ability to tell “stories” in a unique to this way mesmerize me.  He never stopped demonstrating his story telling skills to the extent that he took the little insect science info I shared with him, converted it into a palatable story, and amazed his audiences.  At one point I could not help it, but respectfully asked him if he had ever been a professor in his previous life, the response I got, with his infectious smile, was “no, but I am a grandpa”, a statement that intrigues me to this day whether I will be able to tell a story like him when, I will, one day, become a grandpa?  

It is, indeed, a great loss to all of us, but suffice to say his vast contributions for the betterment of the humanitarian and diplomatic segments, will forever reverberate and carry us through a long way.  

May he RIP!

Yeneneh (Yene) Belayneh 

Roger Winter was an extra-ordinary man. I first met him in the early 1990s. I found him to be a man of unfathomable compassion. He not cared only about the suffering of people caught up in many humanitarian crises of the time; he was always looking and working to see how he could make a difference.

Jeff Drumtra has written a message about Roger’s work on and during the Rwanda genocide. I and the many other Rwandans who are familiar with Roger’s  work during that time sincerely mourn his passing.

I have no doubt that many people in this country - including those who watched the carnage on the TV screens of their offices - cared about the genocide.

Roger Winter was different. He too cared, but could not just sit and grieve. He does visited the horrendous scene of slaughter. More than once, if I remember right. And when he came to Washington D.C., he made it his mission to bear witness. He became the voice of the victims. An inconvenient voice in this town.

For all that and more, many Rwandan will forever be grateful that our world, our times, were blessed by his life and work.

To so many of us, Roger was so much more than a friend and colleague.  He was a mentor, a guide, an inspiration, a North Star. We first traveled together to what was then southern Sudan in 1986 in a rickety old propeller plane flown by Norwegian People's Aid.  As soon as we deplaned, dozens of South Sudanese people swarmed Roger to share stories and get his news, as he was one of the few people from the outside who kept coming back.  And I experienced that with him so many times over the ensuing years:  the love and gratitude towards him for being present, for never turning away, for always answering the call.  Beloved brother Roger, we will miss you terribly.  May your soul rest in the peace it so dearly earned in your extraordinary lifetime.

It is with deep sadness that I learn of the passing of Roger Winter, Over a half-century of development and humanitarian assistance, he had been and will continue to be a leading light for me. I now have to cope with a tremendous void. My heartfelt condolences to his family and all his loved ones. Mark G. Wentling 

During 11 years working with Roger, the most traumatic period was the 1994 Rwanda genocide. It reveals the hidden toll Roger absorbed in his work.

Roger raced to Rwanda as massive killings were occurring. He was the only foreigner to arrive at many massacre sites. I spoke with Roger via satellite phone as he stepped through thousands of dead, broken bodies in the Rwandan hills. I heard the shock in his voice and the emotions he struggled to contain. Displaying raw emotion was very unlike the Roger I knew. Roger would say, "Jeff, have never seen anything like this before . . . I have NEVER seen anything like this before . . . I have never seen ANYTHING like this."

Roger always made clear that our responsibility was to convert personal outrage into useful insights and analysis, to force people to understand and take action. Sadly, no meaningful international actions occurred to stop the Rwanda genocide, and tree-quarters of a million human beings perished in a span of 3 months.

I believe Roger paid a personal price for being a witness to atrocities committed in Rwanda and elsewhere. Roger was a deeply religious man -- something we rarely discussed but I knew about him. One day we sat together in the back seat of a Washington taxi making our way  across Thomas Circle to yet another advocacy meeting on Capitol Hill that was integral to our work.

Roger gazed out the taxi window at a soaring church steeple. He suddenly confided to me out of the blue, very quietly, "Now, whenever I see a church steeple anywhere in the world, it takes me right back to the bodies in Rwanda."

What had been a place of solace for Roger -- a sacred church -- had become twisted into a haunting memory that he could not escape. I hope and trust that as the years wore on, Roger's deep sense of religion, and his loving family, were gradually able to offer Roger the emotional safe haven he needed and deserved.

Because Roger's career was all about helping people find a safe haven.

My heartfelt sympathies to the Winter family on Roger's passing. He was a giant in the humanitarian world, mentoring and befriending so many young and not so young professionals who became interested in aiding refugees and the forcibly displaced. Roger was thoughtful and caring to all with whom he came in contact in his long career.  He befriended and encouraged me and many others to join in educational and advocacy efforts, first  as head of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and the publisher of the ground breaking  World Refugee Report and later through his work in government at USAID.  His leadership, creative approaches and quiet  competency helped improve  our government's and the publics' knowledge and response to the  desperate situations facing refugees, forced to flee their homes, communities, and  country  to save themselves and their children.  Roger's life  made a difference.   

Roger Winter was a giant among advocates for refugees and displaced people worldwide.

I was privileged to be able to work with him on many occasions.  Roger's strategic and tactical instincts were always sound and sharp,  and his energy boundless.  In addition, even in times of crisis, he maintained his trademark cool and sense of humor.

Roger made a difference for countless in life-saving need.  It has been many years since we each retired, but I still treasure working with Roger.  Nobody won more respect in the humanitarian field than Roger Winter.

My deepest condolences to the family of the late Roger Winter.

I came to know Roger Winter in 1991. I was then representing the Rwandan rebel organisation RPF. His help, kindness and hospitality at the US Committee for Refugees remains so vivid decades later. 

When I became Rwanda's Ambassador to the the United States in 1996, I treasured his counsel as I navigated the complexities of Washington DC. i recall that his major preoccupation at the time was the liberation struggle in Sudan, which culminated in an independent African nation of South Sudan.

Roger Winter lived an active life dedicated to his family, nation and others. His kindness and relentless commitment to serve those suffering injustice will live after him as his enduring legacy.

He was truly a faithful servant to the Lord in word and deed. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Theogene Rudasingwa

Roger P. Winter will be remembered as a humanitarian with a global impact on the lives of so many, and that is as it should be.  As someone who served as his assistant for several years, I was fortunate to see less public sides of Roger and be inspired by his routines, his habits, and his dedication to his values.  Despite a demanding public schedule, his priorities were clear in his devotion to Deloris and his family.  He was the epitome of discipline, focus, and commitment, but could also be self-effacing and humble.  Never one to lavish praise, Roger let those around him know of his care and concern in ways large and small.  He gave me professional opportunities that led me in directions he didn't always understand but never questioned.   While I hadn't spoken with him in over a decade, Roger's influence on me persisted and will remain. May he rest in peace.  

Roger Winter was more than US Committee for Refugees (USCR) director. He was a visionary and a mentor who empowered me, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge atrocities, to advocate for human rights for my home country. This I do, still to this day, 35 years later. “I and the Cambodian people are forever grateful for your compassion, patience, and tireless endeavors to make the world a better place for everyone”. I am sure he is at a better place. He will be for ever missed. Raci Say, former refugee from Cambodia. 

DearDelorise and family,

I was very saddened by the news that Roger has died.  Although I hadn't had contact with him in many years, his name often came up in communications among the old USCR group. He was very special to all of us in so many ways. He was an inspiration to all of us through his own work, commitment to refugees, and leadership, but also a mentor to each of us, nurturing and helpng us all grow professionally,  Roger always encouraged each of us at USCR to have our own voice, whch was one of the things that made USCR not only such an effective organization but such a fulfilling place to work. It's because of Roger that we stayed at USCR for so many, many years. 
I shared his obituary with former colleagues at USCR and in the broader refugee advocacy community and many commented on the great impact he had. I called Ginny Hamilton and spoke with her as she keeps to herself these days.  Warm regards,  Hiram Ruiz

I knew Roger during his days with the Maryland  Department  of Human Resources.  I sometimes carpooled with Roger and Luther Starnes and as a lapsed Catholic in the back seat was educated and amused as they reminisced about revival meetings and enthusiastically sang old hymns.  Roger was a lovely man, the epitome of a humanitarian. Many years later, when I  read the New York Times Magazine article about his work in South Sudan, I was not surprised. I was happy that he had found the work for which he was so well suited.




So sorry to hear of Roger's passing.  He was a great American, great humanitarian and a strong voice for peace, especially in South Sudan.   May God Bless Him.  jeff grieco

Roger Winter was an angel sent to uplift the powerless. I first got to know Roger through a friend by just a phone call in 1990. Never had I ever dreamed of coming to America, but when we were introduced on a phone and he found out that he was aware of the circumstances that befell on me, then he suggested that I should come to American and stay with him and his family. The rest of the story is history and I have been here since 1991 because of Roger. He was a rare species and will be dearly missed by many. 

Raymond, Sarah, Nicole and Isabel Ban

I will always remember Mr Roger Winter for the work he did especially for the refugees from Uganda and Rwanda.  He processed an application that allowed many including my husband to get refugee status in the early 1980s for that my family and I honor him greatly. 

Ann and Norman Karasanyi

Roger touched so many lives in the very best way.
I'm grateful I got the chance to know him. My
husband, Ted Dagne, Roger and other friends were having
dinner in our house a while back and I had prepared food on the table with radishes, my favorite. Nobody was eating the
radishes, except Roger. Then I said Roger thank you
are the only one who is eating my radishes. And
he replied "they don't know how radish is good for
them". What an amazing person and what a remarkable life.
Wishing the family comfort and peace.

The Winter Brothers (Roger, Raymond, Gary) July 13, 2002

We are saddened at the news of Mr. Paul Winter’s passing and offer the Winter family our sincerest condolences.  

May Roger Winter R.I.E.P and Heartfelt Condolences to  his family and friends. I personally lost an old friend, Rwanda lost a proven genuine friend and the USA and the world have lost a great man.  With fondest memories from all of us who knew him and his deeds. Ambassador Joseph Mutaboba and Family. 

OBITUARY

Roger Paul Winter

13 July, 1942 – 25 January, 2023

Witzke Funeral Homes Inc.

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