Jane MacAskill Grinwis

Jane Ann MacAskill Grinwis, formerly of Washington, DC, died May 7, 2025, at Rivermead Continuing Care Community in Peterborough, New Hampshire. She was 89. Born in Methuen, Massachusetts, Jane grew up in Andover, the beloved daughter of Everett MacAskill and Alice Stott MacAskill. 

Jane graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1957, where she majored in Romance Languages. She joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1962 and served as a secretary in Washington, D.C., Algeria, and Senegal, before training to become an intelligence officer. She met her husband of 48 years, David Grinwis, in the Foreign Service. They married in 1968. They served at Embassies together in Algiers (2nd tour for Jane), Israel, and Belgium. Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, Jane worked in D.C. for the Counterterrorist Center tracking al-Qaida in Europe and Iraq. She retired in 2012 after proudly serving the U.S. Government for 38 years. 

She loved to ski, paint, sew, and play the piano. 

Jane is survived by two children, James Grinwis of Greenfield, MA, and Emmy Grinwis of Los Angeles, four grandchildren, and brother Everett MacAskill of Ridgecrest, CA. 

A burial will take place later this year in Paterson, New Jersey. In lieu of flowers, memorials to Jane may be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), https://www.aspca.org