Barbara Ackermann

1925 - 2020

First Woman Mayor of Cambridge Dies July 4th, 2020. Former mayor of Cambridge, Barbara Ackermann, passed away during the early morning hours of July 4th, Independence Day, at Kimball Farms Nursing Home in Lenox, Massachusetts. She was 95 years old. A fierce advocate for the poor and the elderly, the disenfranchised and the disadvantaged, Ackermann spent a productive life in the service of others. She was born in Stockholm on March 1, 1925, to Joan (nee' Carrington of Christchurch, New Zealand) and Benjamin Hulley (of Deland, Florida), a consul with the United States Foreign Service. Ackermann grew up in Ireland and France before the family moved to Litchfield, Connecticut in 1941 to avoid the war while her father remained at his post in Paris. A Classis major at Smith College, she studied Greek and Latin, spoke three languages and could read four more. "I remember when we were traveling in Europe when I was young," recalls her daughter, Joan, "Whenever we would cross a border, my mother immediately was speaking the language of whatever country we had entered. I was dumbfounded." After college, Ackermann, an aspiring writer, worked as a proofreader and copyeditor in New York where she met her husband, Paul Kurt, a graduate student at Columbia University, at an Oscar Levant outdoor concert. "Under the starry summer skies," she would say. They were married in 1946. A few years later they settled in Cambridge. He pursued a Ph.D. in German literature and taught at Boston University while she continued to write as they started a family. Having two children in public school, she developed an interest in the school system and city politics. After three terms on the Cambridge School Committee, Ackermann was elected to the Cambridge City Council. During her 10 years on the council, she served as the first woman mayor of Cambridge, elected by her fellow council members in 1972. She wrote a book about her experiences, "You The Mayor?," which she dedicated to her husband and to her mother who taught her to be "a passionate advocate to those in need." "My mom had two families, ours and the city of Cambridge," said her son, Rick. "She loved them both." After a run for governor in 1978, she turned her efforts full time to promoting public health, and the groundwork she laid with a dedicated group of volunteers formed the foundation for MassCare, the state's single-payer health care system. In 1993, the adult and pediatric clinic at the North Cambridge Health Center was named the Barbara Ackermann Health Clinic for her work as member and chair of the Health Policy Board, a member of the Governing Body of Cambridge Hospital, and chair of the Womens Health Task Force. Members of the Friends Meeting at Cambridge, Barbara and her husband were Quaker pacifists and early, vocal protestors of the Vietnam War. She is survived by her younger brother, Stephen Hulley of Orcas Island, Washington; a son, Rick Ackermann of Portland, Maine; a daughter, Joan Ackermann of Mill River, Massachusetts; and a granddaughter, Jane Ackermann, of Portland. The family invites all who knew her to join in a silent Quaker Meeting this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST from the safety and comfort of their homes. No Zoom. No computer. Just a shared hour-long reflection/meditation on an inspiring life in the service of equal justice, health care, housing, education and opportunity for all. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to "Color of Change" an organization founded by Van Jones in 2005 which focuses on economic justice, media justice and criminal justice.