Obituary for Carol S. Diamond
Carol Diamond, ad agency CEO, public housing advocate, writer, book editor, human rights activist, adored wife to Theodore Diamond and beloved mother to William and Jonathan, died at Norwalk Hospital of pneumonia on March 10. She was 100 years old. A gifted writer, she used her abilities and great intelligence to make the world and her community better and fairer. She mentored younger women and served as a patient escort at a women’s health clinic. Carol was as curious as she was compassionate. She loved books and was constantly learning and exchanging ideas through book groups and clubs that she helped to organize. Fascinated by words – their meanings and origins, she was known to read the dictionary for pleasure.
It was a life of activism, engagement and connection. A former president of The Y’s Women, an organization that serves as a social and career network for women in Fairfield County, she also was a past vice president and treasurer of the Westport Public Library. An active canvasser on the state and local levels since the early fifties, she received the esteemed “Silver Donkey” award for her years of service to the Democratic Party.
Carol was born on November 13, 1921 in New York City, the daughter of the late Phyllis Marks and Edgar K. Simon and sister of Edgar Simon, who predeceased her. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1942 (and as president of the political action committee, brought Eleanor Roosevelt to the campus to speak). Ever the activist, in 1944, she obtained employment with the Newark Local Housing Authority, surveying impoverished housing conditions in that city. Later that year, she joined the Federal Housing Administration, working to create affordable living facilities for veterans.
In 1946, she married Theodore Diamond, to whom she would be devoted for the next 75 years. The couple moved to Westport in 1955, where they remained throughout her life, enrolling their two sons in its public schools, K-12. She loved Westport and was known to say, “I feel I have always lived here.”
As a mother of two children in the 50’s and 60’s, Carol found a way to balance work and family life that could have been an early model for the women’s movement. In Westport, she worked for the town’s radio station WMMM, broadcasting programs that highlighted community activities and then served as a deputy director for a Bridgeport anti-poverty agency before starting her own advertising firm. But she somehow found time to go to every parent-teacher conference and recital – and to worry about (and check) her children’s homework.
Her marriage to her husband, Ted, was legendary. They politicked together (when he campaigned for local government, she edited his speeches), protested together (demonstrating against the Iraq war and composing letters of outrage during the Trump years), and traveled the world together (visiting 120 countries over the course of 60 trips). They were inseparable; they were utterly engaged with each other and as Carol affirmed recently, the enforced isolation of Covid had only brought them closer. “I fall in love with the same guy every morning of my life,” she said.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her sons William and Jonathan, her daughter-in- law Harriet, her two grandsons, Theodore and Noah, and her great-grandchildren, Peter, June and Beatrix.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Westport Public Library on Sunday, April 3 at 10:30 am, followed by a reception at the Westport Women’s Club. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Westport Public Library.
It was a life of activism, engagement and connection. A former president of The Y’s Women, an organization that serves as a social and career network for women in Fairfield County, she also was a past vice president and treasurer of the Westport Public Library. An active canvasser on the state and local levels since the early fifties, she received the esteemed “Silver Donkey” award for her years of service to the Democratic Party.
Carol was born on November 13, 1921 in New York City, the daughter of the late Phyllis Marks and Edgar K. Simon and sister of Edgar Simon, who predeceased her. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1942 (and as president of the political action committee, brought Eleanor Roosevelt to the campus to speak). Ever the activist, in 1944, she obtained employment with the Newark Local Housing Authority, surveying impoverished housing conditions in that city. Later that year, she joined the Federal Housing Administration, working to create affordable living facilities for veterans.
In 1946, she married Theodore Diamond, to whom she would be devoted for the next 75 years. The couple moved to Westport in 1955, where they remained throughout her life, enrolling their two sons in its public schools, K-12. She loved Westport and was known to say, “I feel I have always lived here.”
As a mother of two children in the 50’s and 60’s, Carol found a way to balance work and family life that could have been an early model for the women’s movement. In Westport, she worked for the town’s radio station WMMM, broadcasting programs that highlighted community activities and then served as a deputy director for a Bridgeport anti-poverty agency before starting her own advertising firm. But she somehow found time to go to every parent-teacher conference and recital – and to worry about (and check) her children’s homework.
Her marriage to her husband, Ted, was legendary. They politicked together (when he campaigned for local government, she edited his speeches), protested together (demonstrating against the Iraq war and composing letters of outrage during the Trump years), and traveled the world together (visiting 120 countries over the course of 60 trips). They were inseparable; they were utterly engaged with each other and as Carol affirmed recently, the enforced isolation of Covid had only brought them closer. “I fall in love with the same guy every morning of my life,” she said.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her sons William and Jonathan, her daughter-in- law Harriet, her two grandsons, Theodore and Noah, and her great-grandchildren, Peter, June and Beatrix.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Westport Public Library on Sunday, April 3 at 10:30 am, followed by a reception at the Westport Women’s Club. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Westport Public Library.