Obituary of Jane Peirce Wood
Jane Peirce Wood
March 27, 1941 - November 2, 2020
Jane Peirce Wood passed away peacefully on November 2nd, 2020.
Born March 27th, 1941, in Newton, Massachusetts, to the late Nancy Griffith Peirce and Robert Thomas Burbank Peirce, Jane grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
She graduated from Smith College, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a BA in Modern European History, earning a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. She also studied at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and was reading Philosophy at the University of Oxford. She served as Lay Reader at St. Matthews Church, Bedford, member of the Vestry of St. Mary’s Church, Bedford, and devoted time to Community Ministry at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York. Jane was a Trustee of the Hiram Halle Library in Pound Ridge, a member of the Pound Ridge Ambulance Corps, PRHS and a member of the Directors’ Committee of the Financial Women’s Association.
Professionally, Jane was well-known and trusted in Executive Search and Wealth Management. After college, Jane worked at The Polaroid Corporation - assisting Dr. E. H. Land on his research on color vision - and would go on to work at Wellington Management Company, Fidelity Management & Research, as well as enjoying many non corporate commitments. She owned and operated Threadneedle Street, a knitting and needlepoint shop on Newbury Street, Back Bay, Boston, volunteered extensively with the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, various libraries, and served as a docent at the Museum of The City of New York.She ultimately created her own business, Peirce Unlimited, with the mission to ‘lend a hand when life concerns overwhelm you’.
Jane was well travelled, having visited (at least) China, Egypt, Jerusalem, Greece, Britain, Bermuda, Africa, France and Mexico, but she was happiest in her landmark home in Pound Ridge, in front of a fire with a cozy British mystery.
Jane has been remembered by friends from many walks of life. She has been called: loyal, brilliant, incisive, caring, witty, intelligent, and a woman of strength and principle. Jane’s passing leaves a hole in the heart of many.
Jane is predeceased by her parents, Robert Thomas Burbank Peirce and Nancy Griffith Peirce, and her brother, R. Thomas B. Peirce, Jr, survived by her daughter, Gwendolyn Kay Wisely and grandchildren, Timothy Hamilton Wisely and Lillian Holiday Wisely. Her memory will be held dear by nieces Nancy Taylor Peirce and Sarah Peirce Whitney, grand nieces Meredith and Morgan, and great grand nephews Tank and Thorn. She is significantly missed by her beloved dogs, Bear, Bubbles, and Yoyo, and granddog, Sherlock.
In her honor, donations may be made to the Pound Ridge Historical Society, PO Box 51 Pound Ridge, NY 10576, or the Pound Ridge Neighbor to Neighbor Program, 179 Westchester Avenue Pound Ridge, NY 10576.
A private service will be held and St Matthew's Church, Bedford, and a Memorial is planned for this spring at St. George’s-by-the-River, Rumson, NJ
