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Obituaries

Lisa Grimmelmann Bidwell

Mrs. Miles O. Bidwell Jr. (Lisa Kerr Grimmelmann) of Newport, RI, died peacefully at home in her sleep on April 6, 2013, a year after her incurable cancer had been diagnosed. She was born on January 12, 1952, in New York, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ihler Frederick Grimmelmann (Frances Logan Kerr), and grew up in White Plains, NY. Her mother is descended from distinguished American patriots on both sides of her family, and her father, a retired child psychologist, from a similarly distinguished background.

A 1972 graduate of Bradford Junior College (now Bradford College), Lisa received her bachelor’s degree (1982) and a master’s in nonprofit management (1988) from the New School for Social Research. She was for many years the director of development and public relations at the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House in New York, and also served on the boards of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (now the Association of Fundraising Executives) and the East Harlem College and Career Counseling Program, Inc. Lisa worked as a volunteer in Greenwich for both the YWCA and for Christ Episcopal Church, and served on the Indian Harbor Yacht Club entertainment committee. In 1995, she and her husband, Dr. Miles Oakley Bidwell Jr., founded an economics consulting firm which they ran until last summer.



Lisa and Miles sailed their boat across the Atlantic three times, accompanied only by their beloved Maine Coon cat, Craig. Lisa was an accomplished sailor, skier, and figure skater. She was the Newport port captain for the Ocean Cruising Club—a sailing organization for people who have made off-shore passages of more than 1000 nautical miles. Lisa was a member of The Colonial Dames of America, Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Society Magna Charta Dames, the Plantagenet Society, and the Colonial Order of the Crown.



Greatly loved and admired, Lisa will be deeply missed by her family and her many, many friends. She is survived by her husband; her parents; her brother, Erik Kerr Grimmelmann; her sister, Ellen Gimmelmann Adler; and by her nephew and two nieces.

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