Barbara Sears Tessmer ’57

Barbara Sears Tessmer ’57, of West Yarmouth and Dover, Mass.; Nov. 27, after a brief illness. After graduating from Brown, she worked for William J. Porter in the Office of North African Affairs at the State Department in Washington, D.C. For decades she was a vocal activist for Cape Cod, where she was born and raised. She was a leading figure and influential consensus builder in the Hyannis Park Civic Association and also worked tirelessly in support of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod. She remained in close contact with many of her classmates and, in 2022, she served as vice president for the 65th reunion of her Brown class. She will also be remembered for her signature broiled lobsters. She is survived by her husband, J. Richard Tessmer; daughters Ashley Brooke Tessmer ’82 and son-in-law David James Harrop; Kendall Tessmer Brown ’89; Marlowe Sears Tessmer ’08 PhD and son-in-law Richard John Bennett, Brown associate dean and molecular microbiology and immunology department chair; and a granddaughter.