Charlotte Nugent, former ANC 4C01 commissioner and Chair, passed away on June 16th according to her husband.
(photo: Charlotte Nugent)

by Bennett Hilley, Jonah Goodman, Maria Barry & Clara Botstein
guest contributors

Charlotte Nugent was a beloved community member and advocate, friend, neighbor, education policy leader and new mom. Charlotte, 38, passed away in June due to heart complications from lymphoma, according to her family. Throughout her personal and professional life, Charlotte dedicated herself to making her communities and the world around her a more humane, just and positive place.

Charlotte contributed to the greater Petworth community through four years of service as the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) for her single member district (SMD) 4C01 in the 16th Street and Brightwood Park neighborhoods, including service as 4C Commission Chair. Charlotte lived on 13th and Madison, but neighbors throughout the ANC knew Charlotte through her leadership on the commission as well as in the community, above and beyond her role as a SMD commissioner.

Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at ANC 4C. Commissioner Nugent sits to the left of Holmes.

As an ANC Commissioner, Charlotte was extremely responsive to her constituents and neighbors and was a dedicated advocate for traffic safety, digital equity in education, access to reliable and frequent bus service for neighborhood residents, affordable housing, and supporting small businesses (especially along Uptown Main Street). She also organized an effort to encourage community members to participate in the District's comprehensive planning process and several other initiatives to improve quality of life for District residents, especially the most vulnerable among us.

See Commissioner Nugent’s candidate profile from 2016 and profile from 2018.

Charlotte's public service and community commitments carried through all aspects of her life. She worked for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, supporting the recovery effort from COVID-19 and spearheading the District's high-impact tutoring program. She was active on local boards, including For Love of Children. She was passionate in her encouragement of women in politics and involved with several supportive networks and organizations. Charlotte was a gracious and passionate leader, diligent and thoughtful in her approach, always ready to listen, and unwavering in her focus and commitment to people, and to what would make our city and community a more equitable place to live and work.

*Commissioners Charlotte Nugent (4C01) and Karen Cooper (4C07).*

As a friend, Charlotte was incredibly inspiring, supportive, and caring. She was a pleasure to spend time with, thoughtful, loyal, and many more wonderful qualities – you really couldn’t ask for more in a friend or a person. She pushed and inspired so many of those who knew her to be better versions of ourselves. She was a bright light.

We hope that you will join us in keeping Charlotte’s husband, parents and newborn son in our thoughts. We have also identified a few other ways to show your love and support to her family:

Collecting Memories: To capture Charlotte's contribution and impact to our neighborhood and other communities she impacted, we will be compiling reflections and memories of Charlotte in a book that we will share with her family. If you’d like to contribute, please email your note/memory or photos to Bennett and Clara by August 1.
Giving Opportunity: In honor of Charlotte’s dedication to our neighborhood and in recognition of her newborn son, please consider joining us by contributing to her son’s 529 education fund on behalf of those in the neighborhood and others whose lives she impacted.
Gathering Together: We hope to organize a neighborhood gathering in Charlotte's memory in the Fall, so please fill out this google form with your email and name so we can keep you updated as we finalize the details.

From Drew: On a personal note, my family and I offer our deepest condolences to Charlotte’s family and friends, her husband Ben and her son, on the loss of such a special person. May her memory be a blessing.