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RIDGEWOOD, N.J. -- Joyce Peterson, a resident of Ridgewood, died Friday, May 13. She was 66.
She was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1949, the second of three children.
She was a very successful businesswoman, becoming the assistant treasurer of Canadian Forest Products, then the largest private company in Canada, before marrying Gary Peterson from Closter, in 1983. They were married for 32 years.
Since 1985 and up until 2013, she has lived with her family in Ridgewood until their move to New York City. In Vancouver, where her family still resides, she worked for Vancouver’s City Hall, where she was on the project design team that renovated the famous “Gastown area,” including planning the famous Gastown Clock and Gaslamps. She then joined Canadian Forest Products and concurrently received her certified general accountant designation from the University of British Columbia. She was the first woman to be elected as the head of the Cash Management Society of Vancouver.
After briefly living in New York following their marriage, they moved to Ridgewood. She was a Sunday School teacher at St. Leon’s Armenian Church and later a CCD teacher at Mount Carmel Church. She was very active in the Ridgewood Food Pantry and was a liaison to the Paterson Food Pantry.
She is survived by her husband Gary; her mother, Leta Zajac; daughters Stephanie Leigh Peterson and Rebecca Lynn Peterson; her sister Marie Cliffe; and many nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 5:30-8 p.m. Tuesday at C.C. Van Emburgh Funeral Home, 306 E. Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Ridgewood.
In lieu of flowers, it was her wish donations be made to either Sanctuary for Families or the High Water Woman charity.
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