JOSEPHINE ANN "JOANNE" BICKEL

1934 - 2016

BICKEL, JOSEPHINE ANN “JOANNE” December 5, 1934 – September 20, 2016. Joanne passed away at her home in Guilford, Connecticut, on September 20, 2016. She was 81 years young and passed away as a result of leukemia. She began life in Brooklyn, NY, as Josephine Ann Napolino, the adored only child of George and Rose Napolino, and grew up with her parents in Flushing, Queens, where her father was a lawyer and her mother a seamstress. She left New York for college, graduating from William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia with a BA in Philosophy. Following college, she moved to Washington, DC, where she took a job at Standard Oil. It was in Washington that she met her husband Alexander M. “Alex” Bickel, a WW II veteran and graduate of Harvard Law School, who was clerking for Justice Felix Frankfurter at the time. Joanne’s first daughter Francesca Ann was born while Joanne and Alex were still in Washington and her second daughter, Claudia Rose, followed soon after in New Haven. The untimely and heartbreaking loss of Alex Bickel to brain cancer in 1974, led Joanne to re-create her life and though perhaps not initially recognized as such by her adolescent daughters, she became nothing less than a gift of inspiration and fortitude for Claudia and Francesca. She became a pioneer in the concept of comprehensive financial planning, working at Union Trust Bank in the late 1970s and early 80s to create and manage one of the first financial counseling departments at a retail bank in Connecticut. Following her successful time at Union Trust, she went on to serve as a vice president at American Security Bank in Washington, DC and later as a marketing executive at TIAA in New York City. She served on the national boards of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners and CFP board of standards and practices. In mid-career, she was named by Money Magazine as one of the leading financial planners in the United States. Joanne retired in 2002 and relocated to Guilford, Connecticut. She was blessed in her retirement years by her granddaughter Claire Rose and enjoyed introducing Claire to art, theater, and travel. She was an adventurer to the end. Joanne is survived by her daughters Francesca (Jim) of Branford, CT and Claudia (Byron) of Helena, MT; her granddaughter Claire Rose; her cousins Joann Trimarco, Gerry Ponzio, and John Bernardon; and many, many loving friends. The celebration of her life will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to JDRF (the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), Greater Connecticut/Western Mass Chapter, 20 Batterson Park Road, 3rd Floor, Farmington, CT 06032, ctma.jdrf.org. Arrangements in care of the Guilford Funeral Home, 115 Church St, Guilford. To share a memory or leave a message of condolence for the family, please visit www.GuilfordFuneralHome.com