Margaret Allen Sedgwick

Margaret Allen Sedgwick, 1929-2024

Devoted New Yorker, passionate volunteer, dedicated walker, health enthusiast and long time employee of Time-Life, Inc., Margaret Allen Sedgwick died peacefully on September 27, 2024 at the Notre Dame Long Term Care and Rehabilitation Center in Worcester, Mass.

Margaret was born in Havana, Cuba to William Lothrop and Isabel Luisa (de los Santos) Allen.  She attended Ruston Academy in Havana, where she oversaw her younger siblings who were also in attendance.  She went on to complete high school in Boston, MA at the Winsor School.  In 1953, she graduated from Vassar College.  Editors of the May 20, 1953 Vassar Miscellany News jokingly suggested she be issued a “contract as a successor to Marilyn Monroe.”

Known as “Peggy” by her friends, and “Aunt Margaret” by her nieces and nephews, Margaret lived on Gramercy Park in Manhattan most of her life.  She worked for many years as an executive assistant for Time-Life, Inc.  Each Christmas she loved gifting subscriptions to popular magazines published by Time to her nieces and nephews (i.e. Time Magazine, The New Yorker) so they could stay up to date on local and world affairs.  It was always important to read those publications because one never knew when you might be tested on them later. 

She was a strong-willed woman, proud of her mother’s Cuban heritage and her father’s New England ancestry.  Her New York apartment contained a vast library of family artifacts, correspondence and documents. At holiday gatherings, Aunt Margaret would expound on important family history, and admonish you if she sensed that your attention was waning.

Margaret volunteered frequently for several educational and cultural organizations.  As a young woman, she was involved in the Vincent Club of Boston, and the Junior League.  She was a docent at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art.  She designed and made her own clothing.

An avid walker, Margaret would often brag about how many steps she’d taken each day, and would compare her daily count to how many steps you may have accumulated.  She never hesitated to ask any stranger to open a door for her.  At times, she’d use her cane to gently notify those walking in front of her, to clear her way.  She was an extraordinary and stately character.  Without her, New York City will never be the same.

She is predeceased by her husband William P. Sedgwick, 3rd, and her brother William H. Allen. She leaves her younger sister Anisia A. Gifford, stepsons David Sedgwick, Mitchell Sedgwick, their cousin Ruth Chapman, many nieces, nephews, and their families.

Margaret will be buried with her family in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston. Services will be private.