Ann Kotting Sadowsky, 84, of Bethesda, Maryland, died peacefully at home on May 29, 2025, surrounded by her family.

Born in Detroit on March 27, 1941, Ann graduated from Mt. Holyoke College in 1963, earned a master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University in 1965, and received a post-master's certificate in hospital administration from George Washington University in 1972.

Ann’s commitment to building a more just society – especially for women – and caring for others who needed help was a constant thread in both her professional and personal endeavors. Over the course of 30 years in Stamford, Connecticut, she held administrative and fundraising posts at the City of Stamford, The United Way, Scofield Manor residential care home, and the Childcare Center of Stamford; served on the boards of nonprofits that sheltered the homeless and assisted low-income families; and spent five years chairing the city's Social Services Commission, a post appointed by the mayor. In retirement in Woodstock, Vermont, and later in Bethesda, Maryland, Ann never ceased her community and political involvement, volunteering locally and spending time and money supporting Democratic causes nationwide.

Throughout her life, Ann took great pride, joy, and comfort in the circles of women with whom she cultivated friendships. While the longest and strongest of these circles began at Mt. Holyoke, she continued to nurture friendships through church membership, gourmet group, knitting circles, volunteering, and book clubs. She knew how to make and keep friendships, how to check in on the people she cared about, and support her communities.

Ann loved learning, specifically about history. She was a voracious reader, particularly enjoying biographies and U.S. history books, but she never turned down a good mystery. She was a member of multiple book clubs, sometimes simultaneously, where she mostly (but not always) arrived prepared to discuss the entire book.

Perhaps most of all, Ann loved her husband, George, whom she married in Bethesda in 1970. She once said she was never entirely sure where life would take her, but at least with George, it would always be fun.

Wherever she found herself, Ann readily responded to the needs of those around her, whether it meant writing grants or watering flowers. After she and George retired to Woodstock in 2008, she quickly immersed herself in civic activities, becoming co-chair of the Woodstock Rotary program committee, a member of the Garden Club, and joining the Boards of the Norman Williams Library and the Pentangle Arts Association. And when she and George moved to the Fox Hill Residences in Bethesda in 2019, she quickly joined, and then headed, the Library Committee. 

It was important to Ann to sustain connections with the friends she made throughout her life. She was an active member in the Mt. Holyoke Alumnae Association, serving as class president, helping organize reunions, editing class notes, and receiving the Alumnae Medal of Honor in 1993. She was a longtime and active member of the North Stamford Congregational Church, as well the Southwestern Connecticut Council of Churches and Synagogues, from whom she received the 1997 Lay Person of the Year Award. To the end, she continued to keep up with a large circle of friends, whether through Zoom reunions or chatting through Words with Friends.

Ann was preceded in death by her sister, Beth Baldwin, and brother, Richard Kotting. She is survived by her husband George of Bethesda; her son Daniel of Portland, Oregon; and her daughter Kate and granddaughter Abhaya, of San Francisco.

A Celebration of Life for Ann will be held at the Fox Hill Residences in Bethesda at a later date. Memorial donations can be made to Planned Parenthood.

For a lovely collection of photographs of Ann, please visit the obituary link above.  SN

https://everloved.com/life-of/ann-sadowsky/obituary/