Obituary of Joan Kathryn Rinaldi

Joan Kathryn Rinaldi, a retired IBM manager and former Stamford city representative, died on Monday, March 2, 2015 in Danvers, MA. Born January 22, 1932, in Astoria, Queens, and reared in Great Neck, Long Island, she was the daughter of the late James Jackman Rinaldi and Magdalene (Lee) Hohmeister Rinaldi. Ms. Rinaldi received a baccalaureate degree in 1952 from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore (now Notre Dame of Maryland University) and was active in both the Notre Dame and Great Neck High School alumnae/i associations, serving both as class secretary and participating in fund raising events for her college. After being certified by Katherine Gibbs School on completing their special course for college women in 1953, she worked as a legal secretary for the American Broadcasting Company in Manhattan. In 1956 she joined the IBM Corporation. During her 35-year career at IBM she held various compensation, communications and management positions. Her print and video communications work received many awards among them several Gold Eagles from the Council of International Non-Theatrical Events. She was responsible for introducing flex time in the IBM United States organization in the 1980's. In 1982-3 she was "loaned executive" to Harvard University in Cambridge, where she conducted a compensation study for the Board of Overseers. In 1987 she managed a staff of personnel professionals in Santa Clara, California, charged with integrating the Rolm Corporation, a recent IBM purchase, into the IBM personnel system. In 1989 she worked with IBM China/Hong Kong conducting compensation and benefits communications and training programs. After retiring from IBM in 1992 she was a consultant with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, assisting them in developing a training program. A resident of Stamford since 1970, Ms. Rinaldi served as a member of Stamford's 22nd Board of Representatives and then on the City's Personnel Commission from 1994-2000. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the New England Lyric Operetta, the Middlesex Genealogical Society and of the Friends of Ferguson Library, serving as President of that organization from 2005 through 2008. For many years she served as a member of the Heywood Heights Condominium Association Board of Directors. She founded a social organization composed of her closest friends from IBM called Segue as they approached retirement age. Since 1992 they have met monthly to visit historic and cultural attractions. She traveled extensively, having visited over 50 countries and every continent except Antarctica. She was especially concerned about the welfare of abandoned animals, adopted all her pets from shelters and generously contributed to animal humane organizations. She derived great pleasure from researching and writing historical booklets for Segue, the Friends of Ferguson Library and Notre Dame's Class of 1952. Her greatest pleasure, however, came from her family by whom she is survived: a sister, Marilyn FitzGerald of Salem, MA; two nieces, Marilyn and Mary Lee FitzGerald of Salem, MA; and a nephew, John FitzGerald of Gloucester, MA. The family will receive friends on Friday, March 6, 2015 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM and from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Edward Lawrence Funeral Home, 2119 Post Road, Darien. A Graveside Service will be held on Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 10:00 AM at Holy Rood Cemetery, 111 Old Country Road, Westbury, LI, NY. www.lawrencefuneralhome.com Funeral Home: Edward Lawrence Funeral Home 2119 Post Road Darien, CT USA 06820