(In attendance at the memorial service with Bob Brady were many of Margaret Brady’s friends, including Brian and Susan Schanning, Tom Brislin, Dennis and Elise Reeder.)
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Bob Brady‘s wife Margaret Brady of Guilford, CT., died peacefully at home, August 15, 2015 after suffering from breast cancer for several years.
Margaret was born September 15, 1947, in New York City, to Fred Schmidt and Florence Bergwardt Schmidt. The family moved to Englewood, NJ, when she was eight years old. She graduated from Dwight Morrow High School, Englewood, in 1969. Margaret received her B.A. degree in economics from Connecticut College for Women (now Connecticut College), New London, CT, in 1969, and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut Law School, West Hartford, CT, in 1978. She was admitted to the bar in both Connecticut and New York State.
Margaret married Robert Brady in 1977. He survives her, as do their daughter, Lindsay Brady Beile, and son-in-law, Tyson Beile, of Seattle, WA. Margaret’s grandson, Lewis Robert Beile, was born July 14, 2015. She is also survived by a sister, Barbara, and a nephew, Alex Himes.
In addition to her family, Margaret’s passions were land use, civic beautification, and gardening. She combined these in her professional career and personal interests and activities. She believed that every generation is responsible for careful stewardship of the natural resources it inherits. She believed that a culture which allows the personal gain of a property owner to trump the collective interests of the community is morally bankrupt.
As a planner, she worked to insure that development respected the land, the community, and the neighbors. She thought life was too short to permit ugly buildings, or overbuilt or poorly landscaped sites. As a junior staffer in New Haven, then in more senior positions in Stamford and Westbrook, she developed master plans and zoning regulations to insure that forests and fields were not paved over and built up without careful management to minimize impact.
From 1969 to 1990, she worked as a land use attorney and city planner for the City of New Haven, the City of Stamford, and the town of Westbrook. In Westbrook, she introduced and oversaw the town’s implementation of recycling. She also served as a member of the Madison Zoning Board and was a founder of SGOD, the Madison organization that helped protect the Griswold Airport from over-development.
She labored daily to improve her personal gardens, first in Madison, where she lived from 1985 to 2002, then at her Guilford home, from 2002 to 2015.
Margaret was a dedicated member of the Garden Club of Madison for over 25 years, served on its board for many years, and was its president from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2000 to 2002. She was a long-time member of the Madison Beach Club, where she was chairman of the Outdoor Planting Committee from 2003 to 2005.
Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Garden Club of Madison, Civic Beautification Fund, P.O. Box 29, Madison, CT 06443, or the Guilford Land Trust, P.O. Box 200, Guilford, CT 06437.
A memorial service was held on Monday, August 10th at 11 am at the Guilford Yacht Club, 379 Old Whitfield St. Guilford. To sign the online guestbook, please visit HawleyLincolnMemorial.com.
