Gloria Wright Gutwirth, 90, left behind the many who loved her on May 10, 2023. The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Edgar Wright, she was raised in Beverly and resided for many years in Marblehead before moving to Naples, Florida.
She is survived by her beloved companion, Carmine Palumbo, and his daughter, Marie Goetz. She was dear “Auntie Glo” and loved by Bruce Dallas, Linda Wigglesworth, Donna Noble, Dana Dobrenchuk, Heather Dallas, and her many great and great-grand nieces and nephews. Her beloved nephew, Greg Dobrenchuk, predeceased her.
Gloria received her BA in sociology and psychology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and was offered a scholarship there to pursue her master’s degree. Instead, she chose to broaden her horizons by moving to England when offered an opportunity to study anthropology and ethnology at the London School of Economics. Her first career was working as an anthropologist at the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.
She continued her studies at Radcliffe College, where she earned her first master’s degree and was a Ph.D. candidate in philology. She taught Latin and Greek at the Winsor School in Boston and St. Edmunds Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Her second master’s degree was received from Boston University School of Public Health. The governor of Massachusetts twice appointed Gloria to the Division of Registration, Allied Health Services. She was also a field supervisor in nutrition for the Family Health Services Division of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Gloria also served as director for the Maine and New York locations of the Institute for Gravitational Pathology for three years. For 17 years, she was a Realtor in Marblehead and affiliated with Hunneman-Coldwell Banker Realty prior to her retirement.
She was a member of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, North Shore Association of Realtors, Radcliffe Club, American Public Health Association and Glover Landing Condominium Trust Committee.
Gloria was the widow of Marc R. Gutwirth, Ph.D., Harvard University. She was the editor and compiler of his thoughts and philosophical musings, posthumously published in “The Essence is to Question.”
Her passion was reading. Experiencing anything new brought her joy, and she enjoyed traveling. Some of her many other interests included fine art, languages, music, theater and ballet. She herself was an accomplished pianist. Laughter was her best medicine. She treasured her family and her friends.
Gloria will be greatly missed by all those she touched with her heart, her loving and caring spirit, and her curious mind. She was a teacher with wisdom to share and a lifelong learner herself. Her beauty was inner, as well as outer, and she truly did “Glo.” Her life was a symphony of love and light, kindness, compassion and caring thoughtfulness.
With special thanks to Syndia, her devoted caregiver, for taking such good, loving care of her in these later years.
A family service is scheduled in Naples, Florida. Arrangements are by Hodges Funeral Home, Naples Memorial Gardens, Naples.
