Remarks from the Memorial
A memorial for Joan B. Dunlop, hosted by IWHC and the Open Society Foundations, was held for her family, friends, and colleagues at the Cosmopolitan Club in New York City on September 24, 2012.
Speakers included the following:
- Françoise Girard – President, International Women’s Health Coalition - download remarks here
- Penelope Banks West – Joan’s sister - download remarks here
- Joanna Larson – Joan’s niece
- Seymour Banks – Joan’s nephew
- Elizabeth McCormack – Rockefeller Family and Associates
- Vartan Gregorian – President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Aryeh Neier – President Emeritus, Open Society Foundations - download remarks here
- Rachl Kyte – Vice President, Sustainable Development, World Bank
- Jacqueline Pitanguy – Founder and Executive Director, Cepia – Brazil - download remarks here
- Sherrilyn Ifill – Board Chair U.S. Programs, Open Society Foundations
- Brian Brink – Board Chair, International Women’s Health Coalition - download remarks here
Condolences from Colleagues
Deepest condolences on Joan Dunlop's
passing away. Please convey my condolences to her family. My memories of Joan
go back to the ICPD prepcoms and then to ICPD and the Beijing Conf where I
remember a quiet moment with Joan comparing ICPD and Beijing and what the
former meant to us.
Khawar Mumtaz
Pakistan
Please receive our condolences. Warmest regards,
Alessandra Nilo
GESTOS/LACCASO, Brazil
We have just learned of the demise of your former President and Chair of the
Board, Joan Dunlop. We know that she had been ill for sometime; she is now at
peace. She will be remembered as a colleague and friend who held hands and
stood shoulder to shoulder with diverse women from the economic south in
advocating on sexual and reproductive health and rights for all women. We will
continue to fight for women's rights internationally, inspired by the
memory of courageous women like Joan.
From all of us in DAWN, we extend
our condolences and solidarity to you and Joan's surviving kins.
Sincerely,
Gigi Francisco
In behalf of the DAWN Executive Committee & Board Members, Philippines
I write on behalf of Action Health Incorporated's team to commiserate with the
IWHC Family on Joan Dunlop's passing away today.
We are indeed very sad to hear this news. Joan was an exemplary woman of great
achievements, so well-respected and loved by many. For us at AHI, Joan will
always be fondly remembered for her warmth, tireless encouragement and guidance
in the early days of our establishment as an organization and we will find
comfort in the memories of those times shared. Very importantly too, it is
really gratifying to see that the ideals of a better world for women and girls
that Ms. Dunlop stood for, are being taken to greater heights under your
leadership. .
Please accept our sincerest condolences.
Adenike O. Esiet
Executive Director
Action Health Incorporated,
Lagos, Nigeria
Muy triste la noticia! Sin embargo
su lucha continúa en todas nosotras y en nuestras organizaciones !
Joan, continuarás viva con tus ideas y tu lucha. Saudades!
Margarita Díaz - Reprolatina, Brazil
Cuando se van las personas que han sembrado tanto y nos han dejado su ejemplo
de entrega y lucha por cambiar situaciones injustas, lo que nos queda es pedir
que nos siga acompañando desde la otra dimensión.
No la he conocido personalmente, pero su nombre ha estado muy presente en el
proceso para Cairo y post Cairo.
Reciban mi acompañamiento en esta pérdida de vida de una persona cuya
vida fue fructífera.
Muy fraternalmente,
Tarcila Rivera Zea
Chirapaq/ECMIA, Peru
Querida, un abrazo para ustedes y un abrazo para todas nosotras…y no nos queda
mas que seguir el camino
Susana Chávez
PROMSEX, Peru
I was privileged to meet Joan during
my tenure at the Ford Foundation. She was a trustee of a community foundation
near her home in Connecticut. She always had a huge smile on her face when she
was with kindred souls. Warmth and empathy were her calling cards. Time in her
company was always time well-spent. I know that many other Ford colleagues will
miss her greatly, and continue to appreciate the grace and gifts that she
brought to her relationships.
Michael Seltzer
Member, Executive Committee
Life After the Ford Foundation (LAFF) Society, United States of America
Far more than a grantee, Joan was a critical important leader who helped shape
our work in women's rights and health when I directed the Ford Foundation's
Human Rights and Governance program. She was generous with her counsel
when later at NYU's Center on International Cooperation we undertook a review
of donor commitments to Cairo + 5. She was a powerful advocate who,
with dignity and grace, moved us all forward, strongly and convincingly.
She leaves behind a generation of people committed to carrying on her work.
Shepard Forman
President
LAFF Society, United States of America
I am one of those
inspired by Joan Dunlop. My Organisation, Community Life Project (CLP),
received support at inception in the early 1990s from IWHC when Joan was
President and I was privileged to meet her when she visited Nigeria.
I and the entire staff of CLP commiserate with you and the IWHC on her passing.
Joan was a good listener who respected and treated IWHC grantees as real
partners. She was loveable, warm and empathic. Her passion for Women's Rights
and well-being was contagious. I personally remember her often in my
work. She touched the lives of many girls and women around the world for
the better.
Her legacy lives on.
Yours Sincerely,
Ngozi Iwere
Executive Director,
Community Life Project (CLP), Nigeria
Joan, Warrior Woman: a fighter and
stalwart friend to all the world’s women; an inspiration, visionary and
life-giving force.
Her laughter was infectious.
I’ll always remember a surprise birthday party she helped organize for me on
one of my visits to New York. She wrote on the back of the IWHC Sampler
given to me -
“The harp concertos are always in my imagination and take me into your voice
and courage.”
So now I have something special to remember her by, and will play them on
September 24.
Peggy Antrobus
Barbados
ABOUT JOAN
by Alberta Arthurs, Culture & Philanthropy Consultant
When I think of Joan, I think of contrasts - contrasts of a captivating
kind. I think of the ferocity of her commitment to correcting wrongs,
coupled with her high spirited sense of humour. I think we expect people
to be fiery or funny, but not both. Joan was both.
I think of her profound and thorough
loyalty to those she loved and worked for, tied to her stolid independence, her
forcefulness. You could expect these qualities to conflict, too. We
seldom think of people as being both faithful and formidable. Joan was
both.
She was the consummate American –
dedicated to freedom and opinion and pioneering adventure. But she was also
quite British; and she was one of the original cosmopolitans, seeing the world
as one platform on which we all stand and which we have to share.
Joan was sharp; she was
charming. She was lovely, without ever seeming to work at being lovely.
She was independent, but always attuned to others.
All this made her, in my mind, more
whole as a person than most of us get to be. She did so much because of
her determination and ideals and intelligence. And maybe, even beyond
these qualities, she achieved so much because of the unusual level of
understanding that came from this agility of spirit.
I often wish, admiringly, that more
projects, more tasks and goals and work days, more organizations, more
initiatives, were as open, as responding, as expanding, as Joan’s
were. I often wish, that is, that more of us had that agility of spirit.
The example remains. For that, and much else - thanks, Joan!
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