Carol "Sissy" Cohan Weinberg

Sissy was born in Boston in 1925. She grew up on Commonwealth Avenue, one of three sisters, all of whom attended the Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill.

On June 28th, 1944, in the midst of the Second World War, she married Richard L. Weinberg of Memphis, TN whom she had met at a Harvard mixer. They were married for 69 years.

She is survived by her older sister Barbara Fine, her sons Richard L. Weinberg Jr. and David L. Weinberg, their wives, Barley Weinberg and Michele Smith and a host of grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews and cousins, all of whom were the beneficiaries’ of her great love, rare generosity, and sense of fun. Her husband wrote of her in 1968 for his 25th college reunion: “She has the compassion of Mary Poppins and energy of the Jolly Green Giant.”

Initially inspired by Adlai Stevenson and Jack Kennedy, her acute sense of fair play, led her into the world of politics. Her first important political role was Appointments Secretary for Massachusetts’ gubernatorial candidate Chubb Peabody, who won the 1962 election. In 1971, she joined the Tom Atkins campaign. Atkins was the first African American to run for Mayor of Boston. Although Atkins lost, during that campaign she met lifelong friend John Podesta. It was John, along with his brother Tony and Ron Rosenblith, who talked her into joining Ed Muskie’s 1971 run for the US presidency.

By the mid 1970s, she was Executive Director of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee. She helped shepherd the Massachusetts Delegation through the 1980 Democratic Presidential Convention, where the incumbent, Jimmy Carter, faced a challenge from the Draft Kennedy Campaign.

In the late 1970s, a young Massachusetts lawyer, Scott Harshbarger, ran for District Attorney of Middlesex County and convinced Sissy to run his campaign. He won consecutive elections in 1982 and 1986, before successfully running for Massachusetts Attorney General in 1990 and 1994. During both of Harshbarger’s terms, from 1982 to 1988, Sissy served as Assistant District Attorney. When she left the D.A.’s office for personal reasons, Harshbarger said: “Sissy…is a winner… [she] handled everything with class and with dignity and, in times of stress, worked like hell for the people of Middlesex County…I only hope she is still available when next I have one huge and apparently insurmountable mountain to climb or challenge to meet.” She dropped out of fully active campaigning after Harshbarger was beaten in the 1998 Gubernatorial election.

Her non-political accomplishments included Member of the Leslie College Corporation, Trustee and Trustee Emerita, Consultant for Continental CableVision, (Amos Hostetter’s early cable company,) and active supporter of Harvard’s Rowing Team. Six racing shells have been given to Harvard by a generation of appreciative oarsmen to honor Sissy and her husband Rick. As a Captain and his spouse of one of those crews recently noted: “Sissy has always been a role model for us. Our family mantra is ‘What would Sissy do?’”.

Beyond all Sissy’s many notable accomplishments, her family and friends will treasure the memory of her fierce loyalty, her deeply compassionate heart, her exuberance for life, and her empathetic willingness to help any in need.

For those who would like to honor Sissy, contributions may be made in her name to the Pan Mass Challenge (www.give.pmc.org) or to The Child Life Services at Boston Children’s Hospital in memory of Sissy Weinberg at, www.bostonchildrens.org/givenow, or send checks payable to the Boston Children’s Hospital, 401 Park Drive, Suite 602, Boston MA 02215-5301. Please include Sissy Weinberg’s name in the memo line on the check.