Legacy.com — August 15, 2023
Cleveland W. “Worth” Bateman died on August 6, 2023 in Washington, DC at the age of 85. He had cancer. Born on May 1, 1938, on a small farm in Carroll County, Maryland, Worth graduated from McDaniel College, and earned a PhD in economics at Harvard University. He believed deeply in the power of government to improve citizens’ lives. He served at the U.S Department of Defense in the Johnson administration, working on troop effectiveness, compensation, and the military draft, and at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare where he focused on poverty issues.
He helped implement an anti‐poverty program that continues today as the Earned Income Tax Credit which aids low and moderate‐income families.
Leaving government in 1969, Worth became Senior Vice President at the newly‐established Urban Institute, where he led research on social policy affecting urban areas. In 1977, he returned to government at the U.S. Department of Energy in the Carter administration, where he worked on nuclear waste policy and became Acting Under Secretary. He was instrumental in passing legislation requiring the Energy Department to clean‐up a nuclear waste site in West Valley, New York. Following government service, he was an energy consultant.
Worth was a good and generous man with a broad array of interests. He was a skilled carpenter, an avid sailor, and an accomplished chef. He loved opera and baseball, serving what he sometimes called a “life‐sentence” as a Baltimore Oriole fan. After he retired, he operated a wine‐grape vineyard on the Maryland farm where he was born, and when his vineyard days were over, he wrote plays and published several volumes of poetry. Most important, he was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and friend.
Worth was predeceased by his parents, Worthington and Rheda Bateman, and sons John and Robert Bateman.
He is survived by his wife, Grace Bateman, children Matthew and Patrick Bateman, Sarah Dawson, and Elizabeth Dangio, and seven grandchildren.
The funeral and the inurnment at Holy Rood Cemetery are private. Contributions in Worth’s honor may be made to the Social Justice Ministry at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, https://trinity.org/donate‐holy‐trinity/socialjustice/community‐relief‐fund, or to Save the Children, https://www.savethechildren.org/.
Published by The Washington Post on Aug. 15, 2023.
