Joan Barnett Obituary (Berkeley, CA)

Joan Virginia Barnett (née Brunet), age 92, passed away peacefully in her sleep on April 25, 2026, at her home in Berkeley, California, where she had lived for the past 60 years. She was surrounded by

Joan Virginia Barnett (née Brunet), age 92, passed away peacefully in her sleep on April 25, 2026, at her home in Berkeley, California, where she had lived for the past 60 years. She was surrounded by her daughters Michelle Katherine Barnett, Berkeley, Lisa Ellen Barnett Sween (John), Lafayette and her sons Peter Andrew Barnett (Kirin), Costa Mesa; Joel Alexander Barnett (Pamela), Bear Valley, as well as her sister Constance “Connie” Jabbar and niece Leila Jabbar, who traveled from New York and North Carolina to be at Joan’s side in her final days. Her grandchildren Aaron Barnett, Aidan Barnett, Ryan Barnett, Caroline Sween and Carter Sween also were by her side in her final days. Joan also is survived by her stepdaughter Suzanne Barnett Looker (Neil), Colorado, and stepson David Mark Barnett, San Francisco.Joan was born on December 4, 1933, in North Adams, Massachusetts, during one of the harshest winters Western Massachusetts had ever experienced. She was the daughter of Paul and Ellen (Andrews) Brunet. She was preceded in death by her husband and best friend, Franklyn Melville Barnett, who she married on April 26, 1960; her sisters, Barbara (Hamdan), and Marilyn Brunet.In 1956, Joan graduated from the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, Massachusetts, and later earned a master’s degree in child psychology from the University of Detroit. She built a meaningful professional life, working as an executive assistant at Sutro & Co. in San Francisco before transitioning into real estate with Elmwood Realty, a firm her husband co-founded in 1986.Deeply committed to civic life, Joan devoted countless hours to her neighborhood association and remained an engaged and generous member of her Berkeley community throughout her life. She was very active in Berkeley politics, and her living room became a place familiar to many who joined her in various committee meetings.Among her most enduring contributions was the founding of Nations Incorporated in 1962, a nonprofit organization she established with Frank during the height of the Cold War. At a time when global education was largely absent from American secondary schools, Joan and Frank created an innovative program that addressed this gap. The organization’s flagship program, the “Workshop of Nations,” was held each summer in La Honda in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. It brought together American high school students for an immersive experience designed to foster global awareness and cross-cultural understanding. The program uniquely combined outdoor education, international relations, and cultural immersion—an approach that was well ahead of its time and a precursor to modern global studies and international exchange programs. Students were organized into regional study groups—such as Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East—each guided by international scholars and American moderators from Stanford, UC Berkeley and Princeton. Through a blend of academic rigor and communal living, participants explored topics including culture and identity, geography and resources, colonialism and modernization, religion and philosophy, Cold War geopolitics, and the role of the United Nations. Joan believed deeply in the power of education to reduce international conflict, and the program emphasized dialogue, debate, and learning directly from global perspectives.In her personal life, Joan found great joy in simple, steady routines. She loved reading history, trading stock, tending her garden and took delight in the birds that visited her patio, often arriving in search of almonds she set out for them. She was an avid walker with her best friend Sue McKnight, and made a tradition of walking the Lafayette–Moraga Trail every Sunday with her daughter—continuing this ritual through her final Easter Sunday.Joan will be remembered for her intellectual curiosity, her devotion to her family, her commitment to education and community, and her belief in building bridges across cultures. Her legacy lives on in the many colleagues whose lives she helped shape.A funeral Mass will be held on May 9 at 2:00 p.m. at the Newman Center in Berkeley, California, followed by a celebration of life.