Belinda Barbara Newsom

Belinda Barbara Newsom Passed away peacefully on November 22, 2008 at home in San Francisco. Barbara, as she was known, was born to William A. Newsom, Jr. and Christine A. Newsom in 1935 and raised on Jefferson St., adjacent to the Palace of Fine Arts. Devoted mother to Cynthia Sharon Pelosi (d. 1970), Brennan John Pelosi, Matthew Francis Pelosi, Caroline Ann Burke Pelosi (d. 1970) and Laurence Kenelm Pelosi. A fourth-generation San Franciscan, she attended Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires grammar and high schools, Marymount College in Tarrytown, NY, and graduated with honors from San Francisco College for Women before undertaking graduate work at Georgetown University. She was married to Ronald V. Pelosi from 1956 through 1977. Barbara was first and foremost a loving, loyal and compassionate mother, daughter, sister, aunt and grandmother. She was born into a large Irish Catholic family with deep San Francisco roots, her great-grand-parents Alfred and Elizabeth Newsom having settled in San Francisco in the 1850s, and her grandfather and father having been active in local civic affairs as well as state politics. She was also profoundly influenced by many of the remarkable women in her family, including her grandmother, Anna Brennan, and her mother-in-law, Corinne Pelosi. A renaissance woman and lifelong learner, Barbara's academic vocations in paleontology and archaeology led to her service for many years on the boards of the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation and the Berkeley Geochronology Center. Barbara was active in politics and in 1980 relocated to Manhattan following her appointment by President Carter to serve as United States Representative to the United Nations. During the 1990s she directed Georgetown University's Italian Studies program housed at Villa Le Balze outside of Florence, Italy. Barbara was a person of high intelligence and wit, erudition and eloquence, curiosity and courage. She had a profound concern for others, particularly those less fortunate than she. She was a remarkably resilient woman, elegant, vibrant and impeccably tasteful. Her classical education and abiding interest in language, history, culture and travel were central to many of her life's pursuits. In the 1970s Barbara created and ran for many years a pioneering women's educational camp in Marin County, Perspectives, offering full-time mothers and professional women alike an annual, two-week sabbatical for continuing education, cultural enrichment and recreation. She organized and led numerous groups of friends and colleagues on educational and scientific expeditions to Africa and many other destinations, and as an Italophile spent many idyllic summer months in Forte dei Marmi and Siena, Italy, presiding over extended family gatherings and serving all at once as mother, aunt, grandmother, docent, lifeguard, professor, translator, style consultant, historian, travel agent and cook. She earned the respect and admiration of all who knew her by living a life of love, charity and integrity, and ever will remain a role model to her family and many friends. In addition to her three sons, Barbara is survived by her brothers, William A. Newsom, a retired justice of the California Court of Appeal, and Brennan J. Newsom, an attorney; her beloved grandchildren Corinne, Sophia, Dominic and Francesca Pelosi; many adoring nieces/ grand-nieces and nephews/grand-nephews in the Newsom, Mohun and Onorato families; her cousin, Barbara Youmans; and many lifelong friends, including Jean Murphy and Clothilde Goria. Barbara was predeceased by her brother, Patrick J. Newsom, and her sisters, Carole A. Onorato and Sharon C. Mohun. She was a much cherished surrogate mother to her nieces and nephew following the premature deaths of her sister, Sharon, and brother-in-law, Robert T. Mohun. A Funeral Mass was held on November 25 at St. Vincent de Paul Church. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial contributions may be made to UCSF's Koret Family House, 50 Irving St., San Francisco, CA 94122.