Joan Bavaria, 1943-2008

Joan – you will be missed much more than you ever thought but we thank you for your visions and stubborness to accomplish what needed to be done and to lay the groundwork for more to be accomplished. It is our mission to continue your work on your behalf and for all those other heroes that were taken away from us too soon. In loving memory, Debbie

Having known Joan only through 2 phone conversations, it was easy to see what kind of guardian angel she will be for us. Thank you Joan, for the path that you left for us to follow. May we all continue to do what you have started, making this world a better place to live. You are an inspiration to me. Janet

It has been a blessing to have had a chance to know and work with Joan over the years.

I was barely shaving when I was hired at Trillium Asset Management more than 15 years ago. I had zero investment experience at the time. I stumbled into the job thanks in part to an innovative job-seeking letter (hire me hire me hire me hire me). But Joan nurtured me, invested in me and mentored me. She gave me the opportunity to grow into my job and then evolve my job to allow me to pursue my interests. She was always 100% supportive and encouraging, and knew exactly how to temper my youthful zeal and exuberance without putting me down. A perfect boss.

Joan was a wise woman. She possessed a quiet tranquility and grace in even the most trying times. And that made her a great leader. A big part of her wisdom was her humility and groundedness. Joan had the confidence to forge forward in pursuit of her deeply held beliefs, but she was never cocky, never thought she had all the answers, never pulled rank. And as a result she earned the trust and respect of those around her.

I learned a great deal from Joan and feel grateful. And her passing makes me want more than ever to carry out her vision of investing for a better world.

Joany was a loving, exceptionally generous sister, mentor and friend.
We shared a special bond, and were kindred spirits on many levels.
Joany’s contagious enthusiasm inspired me to create and imagine beyond
what I thought was possible in my porcelain art business, and my personal life.
She was always encouraging, supportive and inspiring. Words cannot describe how
much I will miss her…it will be to the depth of my being.
My wish is to carry with me the alive memory of her unfathomable optomism and
inexhaustible vibrancy as an inspiration every moment of every day for the rest
of my life. I have been truly blessed.

Joan, what an honor it is to have known and worked with you. Others on this page have said it: you embodied wisdom, grace, and integrity. You’ve been an inspiration to me, and your spirit lives on in this community you’ve helped build.

Fondly, Michelle

I had the fortunate chance to meet Joan a couple of time, through her sister Pat and her nephew Jamie. It was instantly clear that Joan was an extra-ordinary human being and someone who had a fountain of love, experience and wisdom which engulfed all of those lucky enough to be in her presence and touched by her.
I was sorry to hear of her suffering and death, and surely there is large hole now in the lives of the many loved ones that she has left behind.
My heartfelt condolences go out to her family.
Francis Doughty

What I have always admired in Joan was something that very few people have been able to achieve in their life. Joan had the ability to bridge the different hemispheres of her artistic and practical mind to accomplish many different types of challenges. She could merge her intuitive sense with a spreadsheet, her vision with diligent action, and among many other things, her leadership with humility, compassion and grace. A true leader!

As a recent addition to the Trillium family I had but a short time to have the honor of working for Joan, but in our meetings I was taken by her warm heart, visionary mind and welcoming nature. It cannot be said enough how much she has touched so many people and made the world a better place. She is an irreplaceable pillar of our community who blazed a trail that I am fortunate enough to follow. Thank you.

It’s typical of Joany’s life that her accomplishments were never fully recognized until now, in the comments above and other comments that are yet to come. That’s because she never sought the limelight. Hers was not about a quest for power — or money. She was an enabler of others. The social purpose was her guiding light. She would go all over the world speaking at conferences and serving on boards — and it never occurred to her to ask for a speaker’s fee or even reimbursement of travel costs. I remember the occasion when I was serving on Trillium’s board that the directors looked at her compensation. We were so shocked at how low it was that we doubled it on the spot. Our friendship goes back 26 years to the time when she invited people to come to Boston to introduce her ideas about a new social investment company, Franklin Research & Development. I was the skeptical journalist, fearing that this would be a short-lived do-good effort. Little did I realize that Joan Bavaria was someone who not only had vision but the instincts on how to make things work. Indeed, she was marvelous at it. I remember the board meetings I attended for eight years. She chaired them and they never, never ran over. She would do budget projections and lo and behold, results would be exactly as she predicted. She was a master of Excel spreadsheets. While she obviously knew a great deal about investing, she never gambled her own funds on the stock market. She parked what she had in index funds and just forgot about them. Joany was a tenant in my Mill Valley home for 10 years — and she was the idea tenant. Unbelievably, she left the place better than she found it, growing a beautiful garden that she kept alive through an automatic drip system because she obviously could not trust the hapless gardeners that I and my late wife, Carol Townsend, were. And of course she was more than a business acquaintance. She became a close family friend, known to Carol and me and Carol’s three sons, Laird, Lee and Blaine. She had seen enough of Blaine to realize that he would be a great addition to the Trillium team and invited him to join the company even though he had had absolutely no experience in the business. I can’t remember a single instance in all those years where we ever exchanged harsh words. I will miss her but will remember always the example she set on how to live a life of honesty, generosity, vitality and optimism.

Even though I had only one meeting with Joan which was at my initial investment, and one telephone conversation, both in the mid 80’s, she so impressed me with being such a strong and intelligent presence that all my qualms vanished. What a huge loss it must be to all her associates. My sympathies are with you.

Nov 4- Nov 22

Dear Joan,

Yes, I began this letter to you on November 4, believing we still had months, like this:

“I am weeping now, not so much in solitary grief at your condition and mortality (tho I am indeed alone… grieving… and feeling my own mortality), but rather more in celebration, with an incredibly huge company worldwide — starting with your family and we who worked most directly with you at Trillium this past quarter century — of your life’s unique and incredibly quietly mutual, powerful, and sustainable dance of work and inquiry and love…”

Now I continue on Nov. 22… two days after our TAM Board has unanimously supported your carefully-planned-and-over-four-years-executed succession to co-CEOs Cheryl Smith and Adam Seitchik, each a wonderful finance professional and human character, who together will
continue with all the other Trillium employees and board members to remain fiercely committed to your unique vision and collaborative practice of “Investing for a Better World”…

Although none of us can replace your missing shape in our hearts, we hope that many of us can honor your memory, your ongoing presence as an elective relative, and your commitment… by our own ongoing actions…

With enduring admiration, respect, and quiet love, Bill

P.S. I know Jesse and your whole wonderful family, in all its generations, claims you first.
And perhaps, and very unusually, one can truly say that your owner-employees and board members at Trillium claim you second (tho I know all SRI Forum, CERES, and GRI members and more may contest this prioritizing).

But, in any event, there is a burgeoning company of us thousands who are inspired by you too — throughout the environmental movement, the finance industry (now brought so low except for you and Warren Buffett), corporate America, and academia — who have felt the direct touch of your practical, unassuming, appreciative, and buoyant attention.

You have been a global, ecological saint or bhoddisatva of strategic practice, learning slowly but unforgettingly, settling comfortably and without diminution of your primal inquiry into your many-somehow-harmonious roles, leaving us now with the invitation to continue your caring, witnessing action… on behalf of a wider mutual good.

Unsummoned, Leonard Cohen’s “Who by Fire” and the first verse of his “Halleluijah” sound from my heart repeatedly these days…

Farewell, dear lifetime friend.

Hi, Joan,

I know you will be somewhere to watch and support Trillium. In the past, you were always busy for doing the whole world jobs, now you are getting the loves from the whole world.

You might not know how many things I learned from you since the first day I walked in your office, that was twenty two years, one month and five days ago. You made me understand what is equality, freedom, liberty, tolerance, humbleness, environment, rights, ethics, kindness, sympathy, humor…..but there are two things that I could never get from you, they are your wisdom and beauty.

People said you passed away, I don’t agree, you are just not beside me, you always live in my heart.

Joan, I stop here, you needn’t respond me, I know you are reading my note now, I can feel that from my heart…..

Joan, you led with great vision, courage, patience and perseverance. You left us with the gift of a wonderful company. In turn we are committed to keeping this inspiring vision alive and working toward its full realization. Yours is the path away from cynicism, greed and selfishness, toward a deeper humanity. I’ll always remember your generosity, affection, good humor and sparkling eyes.

I am grateful that Sir Jesse was there slaying dragons and carrying you over puddles till the very end. He too is in our thoughts, along with Colin, Cavedog and the rest of the family that meant so much to you.

The universe seems changed today without the presence of Joan among us. It is not the same!
I remember when Joan first came to ICCR to meet and discuss the concept of a social investment firm. We sat and talked for hours as the ideas and energy flowed. Joan went on not just to found a leading Social Investment firm but nurtured and energized a whole industry. Our greatest tribute to her will be to work vigorously to make her visions of a sustainable planet and a flourishing investment community to which social and environmenatl issues are central, an ongoing reality.
I also remember Joan at a press conference announcing the Valdez( later the CERES ) Principles. These grew to be meaningful industry standards , so much that GM worked for 6 months with an team of which Joan was a central part deciding whether and then how to endorse them. Their endorsement opened up new doors.
Joan you are in our hearts as we mourn the loss of your presence, Tim Smith

I know Joan only from the words of her sister.
Im a cancer survivor and know that there is always someone that we know or hear of that has been touched by this illness but as this door shuts another one opens to the other side of the world,
Let the angels sing and let Joan continue with her gifts and love on the other side.

Joan was one of my role models in both the green business world and as a trustee of Earthjustice. Her accomplishments were huge and her humility and heart even bigger. I’m so grateful I had the chance to know her and for the work she has done to make our world a better place. Thanks Joan. I’ll miss you.

I was fortunate to work with Joan as a member of the CERES Board in the mid-90’s. I had a difficult board role – a new member designated to represent a grassroots perspective. This had been a somewhat neglected viewpoint in the development of CERES until then. Joan knew it would be a challenge to the organization to integrate yet another vantage point – moving from big picture and policy to what might be happening around specific facilities. She gracefully shepherded this process, and worked closely with me to create a workable forum for bringing local issues to the table, even though it created new stresses with some CERES companies.

What a legacy! As the founder of CERES and Trillium Asset Management, Joan created institutions that are so formidable, and so important in aligning our financial and environmental futures. It’s hard to imagine what my own work would be today without the organizations that Joan built.

The world is a better and more hopeful place because of Joan. Thank you Joan, we’ll miss you.

On this Thanksgiving Day, when we pause to treasure all that we have received, Joan’s gifts to all of us are strongly felt. I knew “of Joan”, through my husband’s (Paul Freundlich) friendship with her several years before I knew Joan personally. His admiration, respect, and affection for her were absolute–and when I met her, it was so clear why. It has been an honor and a privlege to know her myself these past years, and to serve on her Trillium Board of Directors. Of the many words used to describe her in these deeply moving postings, the ones that resonate most strongly for me are these: artist, focused, feisty. Joan struck me as a true artist in every one of her domains, from business to life to love to social movements. In our last visit with her during this lifetime, on a Saturday evening in late October, Joan lay on her couch, the queen in her kingdom. There she was, elegant, beautiful, and eyes blazing. She remarked then that it was her quality of focus that she considered her greatest personal qualilty, and the one that had most let her accomplish so much of what she set out to do. Joan had that most remarkable combination of vision, and the focus to make that vision manifest in the world. She has stepped off of the train that we are all on together, and our hearty band of travellers is diminished by her graceful, but so untimely, exit. We hold her always in our hearts, our minds, and our commitment to the principles and causes she held most dear.

My first encounter with Joan was in the early summer of 1987 in the final stages of an east coast recky of SRI activists. Earlier that year Giles Chitty had reported on the emerging US industry and this triggered my determination to find an interneship somewhere to become involved in the field. On arriving at the offices in Atlantic Avenue it was obvious I’d found the right place and meeting Joan was full confirmation. Her great warmth and sparkle, and her unconcern about my lack of investment experience was in very stark contrast to the few meetings with City types in London. It was a huge relief and my first experience of the liberating effect of US ‘can do’, she was prepared to give me a chance. To this day, I am grateful to Joan for making me welcome at FRDC, as Trillium was then called. Over the autumn of 1987, while working on a framework for assessing environmental performance of companies, I was able to witness at close quarters and for the first time, a woman running an investment business and crucially her handling of the 19th October crash. My lasting memories of this time were the hysteria and incoherence of some of her fellow partners, and in contrast her extraordinary calmness and constancy. Her focus was on supporting her staff, helping them to stay informed and on top of the situation. What a privilege to have seen all of this so early in my career and to have had the chance to learn from her example. Joan’s ability to encourage leadership in others, and to support good initiatives no matter where they spring from are not universal qualities – would that they were – and I hope this quality especially is remembered as part of her great legacy.

Joan was a great mentor to me and a strong supporter of the small network involved in developing SRI in the UK. She came and spoke about the Valdez Principles and that meeting triggered the formation of UKSIF. She played a crucial role during the Body Shop furore in the early nineties, I took part in one meeting with her and the Roddicks, which had me riled by Anita. But for Joan’s understated grasp of the whole situation the meeting would have been a disaster.

In subsequent years our connection was less at the working level and more as friends with random emails, calls and passing by visits to Tiburon, Marblehead or Glen. So it was with great joy (and a huge sense of honour for me) that we were jointly named for the Environmental Leadership Award from the City of Goteborg in Sweden. The award was for our work in sustainable finance, Joan for her founding role in SRI, CERES and GRI, and me for CDP and developing SRI in Asia.

So much richness in my life from four months in Boston, over twenty years ago, and so much to show for it. So much to show for her life. What a blessing she has been to the world.

Joan,
You were an inspiration to many. You are missed. Peace.

I met Joan through my work on the Global Reporting Initiative. Her inspiration for the Valdez Principles was the seed for that and so many other projects. I am saddened by her passing, but bolstered by seeing how much positive action she continues to inspire and make happen — the ripples she left in this pond will continue long into the future.

Please note there are additional tributes at the CERES Web site:
http://www.ceres.org/joan

Joan, your vision and work provided (and continue to provide) what I didn’t know existed: peace of mind and confidence that financial resources I steward can actually make a difference in creating a kinder, more just world. On this rainy day, I feel tears welling as I acknowledge your departure from this world that you have given so much to. I take solace in knowing that your vision and work remain, and will benefit those of us here today as well as countless future generations. Thank you, Joan; you have made my life more beautiful and you did it in a way that continues to touch my heart profoundly.

Joan:

Finding these words has been the greatest challenge of my life. In 1983, we found each other amidst the chaos of your speaking tour on the west coast and my classes at University of Puget Sound. After just one brief conversation in Tacoma, I found myself drawn to you and the vision of our world that you articulated so well. One snowy, slushy New England day, I trekked to Boston where you generously shared an afternoon of insight in your Lewis Wharf office – I was hooked. Somehow packing up and moving to Boston to work for you in an investment firm (with no prior experience) seemed like the most logical thing in the world. I had no idea what a profound turn my life would take. You inspired me, made me feel like there were no limits in life. Your elephant necklace was a constant reminder – “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”

On some level, I think I believed illness was just one more obstacle that you would conquer, like so many before. I rejoice in the memory of the time we shared before, during and after my employment at Trillium. I never stopped learning from you.

Most of all, I am grateful for the family that you shared with me. Joan, you had the worlds largest family. The ones that did not qualify in name, qualified in a pure shared love for each other, all channeled by you. Chris, I have the most wonderful memories of Marblehead, the slide show, and you teaching me the beauty of design. You and Colin are rich with gifts bestowed by your mother; I know she considered you both as her most perfect endeavor in life.

I have another bite of elephant waiting for me. Peace be with you and all who you cared for in the world.

My vast sympathy goes out to the staff of Trillium. Joan changed my life in a number of ways for which I am excedingly grateful and I imagine the same is true for you, probably moreso. Her interest in the money business together with a huge sense of social responsibility was unique and wonderful.

Joan was a great inspiration to me, starting with her pioneering social responsibility work in the early 1980’s. She was one of the people responsible for getting me interested in working with social change organizations. Joan demonstrated that business with a conscience does not have to be a contradiction in terms, and she changed the way business is done forever.

Ironically, I knew her son, Chris Clark, and worked with him for years before I found out that Joan, my great inspiration, was his mother. She passed on her admirable qualities well – not just to her family, but to everyone she touched.

I will always treasure the brief opportunities I had to work with her on various new media projects. Joan was always looking for new ways to reach people, young and old, and to broaden the impact of her humanistic message.

To me, she represented the successful integration of personal and professional integrity, social responsibility, and entrepreneurial energy. I am thankful for her enduring example. I’ll miss you, Joan.