Barbara Boggs Sigmund | |
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Mayor of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey | |
In office 1983 – October 10, 1990 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Barbara Boggs May 27, 1939 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
Died | October 10, 1990 | (aged 51)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Paul Sigmund |
Relations |
Cokie Roberts (sister) Tommy Boggs (brother) Steven V. Roberts (brother-in-law) Rebecca Roberts (niece) Lee Roberts (nephew) six (great-niece/nephew) Daniel J. Hartman (nephew-in-law) William Robertson Boggs (brother, deceased) DeLesseps Story Morrison (second cousin, once removed) William C. C. Claiborne (ancestor) |
Children | Paul Sigmund, Jr., David Sigmund, and Stephen Sigmund |
Parents |
Hale Boggs Lindy Boggs |
Education | Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart |
Alma mater | Manhattanville College |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Barbara Boggs Sigmund (May 27, 1939 – October 10, 1990) was a daughter of the powerful Democratic United States Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana, and Lindy Boggs, who became a Congresswoman from Louisiana after her husband Hale died in an air crash.
A graduate of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart and Manhattanville College, she taught at the Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart (Princeton, N.J.), which, in honor of her life, now annually awards the Barbara Boggs Sigmund Alumnae Award.
Sigmund worked as a letter writer for President John F. Kennedy, and served as a member of the Mercer County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders. In 1982, she finished fourth out of nine in the 1982 New Jersey Democratic Senate primary, which was won by Frank Lautenberg (who went on to serve more than 20 years in the Senate). The other two candidates with more votes were former United States Congressmen. She was elected Mayor of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey from 1983 to her death in 1990.
Sigmund founded Womanspace, a Mercer County, New Jersey non-profit agency that provides services — 24-hour hotlines, crisis intervention, emergency shelter, counseling, court advocacy, and housing — to victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
In 1990, Sigmund died of cancer, aged 51, following an 8-year battle. She had lost an eye to the disease, necessitating an eyepatch. The patch became iconic when she attended events as the mayor, sporting an eye patch matched to her outfit.