Suzanne Bangert, dedicated to the community she loved

"She had an incredible love for Wayzata" and earlier this year was named the city's Citizen of the Year. She served as a City Council member and as a counselor to prisoners.

By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune

Last update: November 19, 2009 - 10:53 AM

Wayzata may never have had a better advocate than Suzanne Tenner Bangert, who poured her heart and soul into the community she deeply loved, serving as a member of the City Council and its Planning Commission.

"She was bright, focused, frank and energetic in executing her mission of Wayzata's future," said Mayor Ken Wilcox. "We will miss her friendship, sage counsel and thoughtful insights. We also will miss a wonderful, fun lady who never ceased doing good for others."

Bangert, who was recently named as Wayzata's Citizen of the Year for 2009, died of lung cancer Saturday at her home in Wayzata. She was 66.

Even as she battled lung cancer over the past year, Bangert tirelessly and selflessly fought on for her beloved community by attending early-morning meetings as a member of a task force that is seeking resolution for a neighborhood group opposed to a Hennepin County plan to upgrade Bushaway Road.

She was no stranger to dealing with contentious issues, something she frequently did as a member of the Planning Commission from 1997 to 2000 and the City Council from 2003 to just last month.

"She certainly was a progressive thinker, defender of the environment and dedicated to preserving the history and small-town character," said City Manager Al Orsen.

"She had an incredible love for Wayzata and unselfishly gave of her time. She was not afraid to take a stand on tough issues."

Bangert's life of service began as a speech pathologist in the Burnsville School District. In the late 1970s, she took a position with Hennepin County Corrections and taught GED courses and work readiness programs for inmates. For almost 30 years, Bangert was in charge of more than 900 volunteers at the Plymouth facility who tended gardens and led Bible studies, AA meetings, fitness programs and read to inmates. She also led the Power Program in which volunteers stayed in touch with inmates after their release, said longtime friend and City Council Member Mary Bader.

"Even in corrections, she found the goodness of people," said her sisters, Letty Fitzgerald, of Edina, and Mary Guillaume, of Orono.

Born in Minneapolis, Bangert graduated from the Convent of the Visitation School now in Mendota Heights. She studied for two years at Newton College of Sacred Heart in Boston, but in following family tradition she returned to the University of Minnesota, where she earned a master's degree in speech pathology. She also earned a master's degree in psychology from the Adler Institute.

Known for her smile, sense of humor and her concern for all, "Suzy" also was a longtime trustee at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church and active with the Wayzata Historical Society, friends and family members said.

In addition to her sisters, she is survived by her partner, Andy Bond, of Wayzata; two daughters, Sarah Randolph, of Wayzata, and Bridget Lackie, of Singapore; a brother, Bob Tenner, of Excelsior, and three grandchildren.

Services will be held at noon Thursday at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, 630 E. Wayzata Blvd., Wayzata, with visitation 90 minutes before services at the church.

Recent Obituaries stories

Deaths elsewhere - November 19, 2009

Deaths elsewhere - Morris Lasker, 92, the federal judge who sentenced Ivan Boesky to prison in a 1980s insider trading scandal and helped eliminate horrid conditions in New York City jails, died last Friday in Cambridge, Mass. In 1987, he sentenced Boesky to three years in prison in what was then Wall Street's biggest insider trading case, saying it was essential to incarcerate white-collar criminals. More