Scholarships

Kraig was born in Harrisburg, PA in 1940 and grew up in Millersburg, with his parents Blanche and Karl, and older sister Karleen. As a teenager, he worked summer jobs building brick homes and later graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Architecture and Engineering.

 

Starting with Peace Corps as a volunteer in one of the first groups in Peru in the 1960’s. Kraig followed that with a 30-year career in USAID developing housing projects in Latin America. In retirement, he helped rebuild houses following Hurricane Katrina and helped countless friends, family members, and colleagues with all kinds of housing projects. Architecture and carpentry were his passion.

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Kraig lived a full and interesting life, and even after retirement, he and his wife continued to visit as many corners of the globe as possible. He traveled the world and did his part to make it a better place too.  

 

From Ambassador Palmer's Obituary 

W.H. Mays Mortuary - Augusta, Georgia 

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"The Honorable Ambassador Larry L. Palmer born on July 13, 1949 to the late Rev. R.V. Palmer, Sr. and the late Gladys Y. Palmer passed away on Thursday, April 22, 2021. He received his early education in the public school system of Richmond County and was a member of the first graduating class of Thomas Walter Josey Comprehensive High School, the Class of 1966.

 

After graduating from T.W. Josey, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Emory University, a Masters in Education in African Studies from Texas Southern University (with studies at the University of Liberia), and a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration and African Studies from Indiana University in Bloomington.

 

Ambassador Palmer served as U.S. Ambassador to Tegucigalpa, Honduras during the presidency of George W. Bush and U.S. Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean during the presidency of Barack H. Obama. He also served as Ambassador in Residence to the Office of the Provost at Howard University.

 

An accomplished diplomat, academic and development professional, Ambassador Palmer served as president and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), an independent U.S. government agency that provides grants to poor and marginalized communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. As president of the IAF, he supervised a team of development professionals and traveled over 100,000 miles annually funding projects in education, health, alternative energy, agriculture, ecology and economic development, ensuring that the foundation’s assistance funds reached the neediest recipients. In previous roles, he also served as a senior adviser to the president of the University of Texas at El Paso and director of the Office of Minority Affairs at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina."