Obituary for
Terry Rodie
Angelina (Terry) Rodie passed away peacefully on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, surrounded by her family. She was 81. Loving mother to Terry Lynn and Scott, loving mother-in-law to Scott’s wife Dianne, proud grandmother to Tara, and devoted sister to Jimmy Capichana, Terry was the acknowledged matriarch of the family and the unquestioned source of its strength. She is survived by first husband Joseph Rodie and was predeceased by second husband Gene Kane and brothers Sonny and Junior.
To all who knew her, Terry leaves behind vivid memories of her courage, her fearlessness, her commitment to civic service, her dedication to public participation in government, her ability to inspire excellence in others, her loyalty to friends and colleagues, and her unwavering belief that fairness is essential to democracy. She stood by her beliefs no matter what.
Terry was particularly proud of her modest origins as Angelina Theresa Veronica Capichana and her remarkable career progress as a female civic leader, starting as a parents association volunteer and CETA worker and culminating as the highly-respected district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 14 from 1981 until her retirement in 2007.
At heart, Terry was an artist: a prolific and accomplished watercolorist and a gallery owner. Her visual sensibility informed her approach to local government. In an era before Google, Terry’s office walls were covered by dozens of district maps: land use, electoral districts, proposed street closings and utility excavations, repaving plans, sanitation routes, crime patterns and police patrol zones, houses of worship, schools, bus and subway lines and photomontages of CB14 events. There hardly was enough space left for the dozens of award plaques and certificates she earned over her career.
Terry’s approach to her family, her friends, and her diverse community were the same: She held herself responsible for supporting them, guiding them, inspiring them, treating them fairly, persuading them to do the right thing, gently suggesting solutions to their problems, and convincing them that they had thought of those solutions themselves.
She was a proud, loving, and powerful woman.
