With news of city councillor Joan Pickett’s death, remembrances flow for a friend and civic leader

Cambridge city councillor Joan Pickett is being mourned by family, friends and co-workers after a short period in hospice and her death Friday.

Pickett, 69, was known to be ill in recent months and was hospitalized over the summer, and she missed the City Council’s special summer meeting Aug. 5 and committee hearings because of the illness, said friends and co-workers on Saturday.

“I’m in shock,” said John Pitkin, who knew Pickett for more than 20 years through work on the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association and later on legal efforts against bike lane installation citywide. “She was a neighbor and a friend. I’m just trying to process it.”

Pickett was a resident of Mid-Cambridge for more than a quarter-century, a New Hampshire native who attended Boston College for a biology degree and then went into finance with an additional degrees from Columbia University in New York City. It was there she worked in commercial lending and municipal bond finance at the Standard & Poor’s bond rating agency, according to her city biography.

Pickett returned to Massachusetts in 1997, where she used her Columbia degree’s focus on public health in strategic planning and business development for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She became a member and then 10-year president of the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association, Pitkin said. She also served on the Charles River Conservancy as board and finance committee chair, and she was a founding board member of Caring Canines Pet Therapy.

During last fall’s campaign for City Council, she was asked to name her favorite spot in Cambridge: “Joan Lorentz Park,” she said, referring to the front lawn of the Cambridge Main Library in Mid-Cambridge and a part of the city she had a hand in shaping with her work in the community. “It is a beautiful neighborhood and civic green space.” The longtime home of Pickett and husband Adane Dessie – and two rescue pups, Pippi and Bo – is on Ellery Street, which forms the park’s border to the east.

She also named the pet project she would like to see from the city’s participatory budgeting process: “I’d like to use funds to install benches at all bus stops so seniors, persons with disabilities and everyone else can be comfortable while waiting for a bus.”

Work on the council

Her candidacy for the council grew out of her concern around bike lanes, she said during election forums. She argued that the public and business owners had been left out of too much of their implementation, and that as a councillor she could apply that perspective of broader involvement as well as her financial skills. Mayor E. Denise Simmons put the first-term councillor at the head of the Finance Committee with Patty Nolan and Transportation and Public Utilities with Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler.

Though conflicts over transportation infrastructure have been hard-fought in Cambridge, bike advocate Chris Cassa spoke Saturday with warmth. “Joan’s contributions to Cambridge, especially her work on Joan Lorentz Park, have had a lasting positive impact on our community. While we didn’t always agree, I appreciated her genuine care for our city and the warmth she brought to her work,” Cassa said.

A call for remembrances was sent Saturday to councillors. Nolan, who worked side by side with Pickett during an intense budgeting process – and not too long ago had been collaborating with her to set up hearings for the fall on capital and budget issues – said she was “deeply sad and will miss working with Joan” personally and professionally.

Nolan was impressed by Pickett’s ability to “look at decisions affecting a whole organization, which is especially important now that the city is coming to the end of a period in which we are able to say yes to everything. I was very grateful for how savvy she was in approaching that kind of fiscal environment and her willingness to dig in on issues and ask for the data. Joan was willing to take a look and [make an effort] to fully understand an issue before a vote.”

Councillor Sumbul Siddiqui also responded Saturday, and like other councillors offered condolences to Pickett’s family and loved ones. “I am so saddened to hear about Joan’s passing. She was such a warm colleague. I enjoyed getting to know her and witnessing her dedication to the community,” Siddiqui said.

“I was sad and surprised when I heard of Joan’s passing,” vice mayor Marc McGovern said, recalling an acquaintance that began more than 20 years ago. “We got to know each other better this year, and I’ll miss sharing candy with her during meetings. Joan was always able to have respectful conversations, even if there was disagreement. Her passing is a loss to the council.”

Ayesha Wilson, who joined the council at the same time as Pickett, said the body had lost “a kind heart and capable mind.”

“I’m so grateful that I was able to meet Joan this past year, and got to experience such a genuine and wise friend,” Wilson said. “I’ll be missing her, and keeping her loved ones in my prayers, for some time.”

Pickett’s time in City Hall lasted just eight months, starting from her inauguration Jan. 1.

Announcement expected

An announcement of Pickett’s death was expected Tuesday, according to City Hall staff, but a brief note appeared Saturday atop Robert Winters’ Cambridge Civic Journal site: “Joan was a good friend and neighbor and I will miss her greatly.”

Pickett’s legislative aide, Erika-Leigh Pereira, said Saturday that a statement from the Pickett family was expected soon.

In a statement to the city website, Simmons said the family appreciated “everyone’s thoughts and well wishes at this difficult time, and news of a memorial service shall be made available to the public in the days to come.

Though the council has been in a two-month summer lull, with August especially slow in terms of meetings, it returns to its weekly schedule of Monday meetings Sept. 9. Traditionally, a remembrance will lead off that meeting; it was unknown Saturday whether there would be a separate municipal ceremony, which would be decided by family.

It will be a busy week for the Election Commission: Primary voting is Tuesday, with the commission’s count starting at 8:30 p.m. and a count of provisional ballots planned for Wednesday. Staff will then have to rerun the Nov. 7 election to see who will take the ninth seat in Sullivan Chamber. “When there is news as to the mechanics of determining who shall fill this vacancy on the council, and as to a timeline of that process, we shall work to get this information to the public as quickly and as thoughtfully as possible,” Simmons said.

A rerun of the November election by independent journalist John Hawkinson in January using the same software as the city showed Cathie Zusy taking the seat.

Contacted Saturday, Zusy said she was not prepared to speak about anything but her feelings for Pickett, with whom she shared time in civic life and on the campaign trail in the fall.

“I just feel incredibly sad. I had the highest regard for Joan Pickett. She was a dynamo. She came out of retirement to do what she felt was her civic duty, and we need to honor her and her extraordinary service,” Zusy said.

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