It is with heavy hearts that we announced that our beloved Carol Peckham has passed from her battle with cancer, in her home, surrounded by loved ones. Carol is survived by her loving husband, Michael; her three children, Geoffrey, Jillian and William; her stepchildren, Sarah and Jeremy, and six grandchildren.
Carol was one of the founding co-directors of Recovery Kitchen and a fierce advocate for those struggling to put food on their tables. Always positive, Carol put joy, passion, and a sense of humor into everything she did. She was a pillar in our community, working for years with the Salvation Army and the Columbia County Democratic Party before joining Recovery Kitchen.
If you would like to pay tribute to Carol, please donate in her memory to continue her work for Recovery Kitchen. You can donate here.
Read below for her obituary:
Carol Peckham, age 78, of Greenport, NY, died November 5th in her home.
Carol Peckham was born in Albany, NY. She grew up in Averill Park, NY, received a BA from Bennington College, and moved to New York City, where she lived and worked for more than 30 years. After weekending upstate since 2001, she and her husband Michael Grisham moved full time to Greenport, NY in 2014 and built a house together.
She had a long and significant career in medical publishing, first as Publisher of Scientific American Medicine and Care of the Surgical Patient and later Vice-President at Scientific American. There, she managed continuously updated print and the first CD-ROM delivery of medical information to physicians.
In 1992 she and Cynthia Chevins started Nidus Information Services, a series of reports designed to be delivered both in print and online directly to consumers. They sold Nidus to A.D.A.M, later acquired by Ebix, and both then worked at Medscape, the physician information division of WebMD.
After retiring from publishing, she ran for the town board in Greenport and was secretary of the Columbia County Democratic Committee, as well devoting herself to local food assistance, first cooking for the Salvation Army and then co-founding the Columbia County Recovery Kitchen during the COVID 19 pandemic.
She was a passionate, brilliant and witty writer who kept numerous blogs covering a wide array of subjects including politics, food, and marvelous observations on her own growing older. Her writing reflected her lifelong dedication to helping others, yet was never preachy or didactic, for it always shone with the keen sense of humor, the intelligent sympathy, and the generosity of spirit that all who knew her will miss.
She died peacefully looking out on the meadow and pond she loved.
