Barbara Cassidy

WOODBURY - Barbara Ellen Cassidy, 71, born on February 17, 1954, in Waterbury, Connecticut, passed peacefully in her sleep on January 11, 2026, in her childhood home in Woodbury, Connecticut. Barbara's life adventures took her all over the world, but she was always tethered to her home in Woodbury.
The early years of Barbara's life brought some of her fondest memories. Her childhood was joyful, wild, and free. She ran through the fields surrounding their home on Bear Hill Road, skied through the streets after snowstorms, and rode around town with her grandmother, Ellen Cassidy, learning about real estate. As she grew older, Barbara became known for her sharp mind and steady strength, excelling at Nonnewaug High School in both the classroom and on the field hockey and softball fields. She was always a team player, always a force.
Barbara carried that brilliance forward, studying math and psychology at Dartmouth College as part of its first class of women, the first of several moments of breaking the glass ceiling. Upon graduating in 1976, Barbara had the opportunity to teach English in Iran before starting graduate school at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. After graduating in 1981 and spending some time traveling, she began her career in international finance, which included positions with Meryll Lynch and the Asian Development Bank, taking her to New York City, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
In time, Barbara took an early retirement, allowing her to raise her son, Brendan, travel with her family, and successfully fight cancer on several occasions-surviving leukemia, breast cancer, and skin cancer. Barbara was especially grateful to her high school class, the Nonnewaug Class of 1972, for their prayers, cards, and flowers when she was first diagnosed with leukemia in 2002.
Though Barbara never got to fulfill her dream of running a small country, as she liked to joke, she lived a full life on her own terms. She was the ultimate fighter and defied the odds countless times, despite ultimately succumbing to uterine cancer. She will be remembered as the strong-willed, resilient, and pioneering woman she was, and for the way she met life head-on, with intellect, grit, and heart.
Barbara was predeceased by her parents, J. Donald Cassidy and Dorothy West Cassidy. She is survived by her son, Brendan, her four sisters, Carol, Frances, Margaret, and Diane, as well as her nieces, Sarah and Ellen, nephews, Johannes, Isaac, and Magnus, and numerous other family and friends.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held in her honor at 10 AM on Friday, January 16, 2026, at Sacred Heart Church, 910 Main Street South in Southbury. A graveside service will be held in the spring, at which time Barbara will be laid to rest alongside her parents. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Barbara, please visit our floral store.