Jean Kaltwasser Mason
1924 - 2026
Died at Cambridge, March 25, 2026. Born July 21, 1924 in St Louis, MO, Jean moved permanently to Cambridge, MA in 1947 with her husband, Edward Allen Mason, who died in 2007.
In her own words, she was “drawn since early childhood to other ways to live” and spent much of her life supporting alternatives to mainstream housing. In 1957, she was working for what was then the Urban League of Boston as Chairperson of its ad hoc Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, while it worked to establish the first anti-discrimination housing legislation in MA. In the 1980s, she was co-creator of Harvest Housing, a group home for single mothers in Cambridge, and was a contributor to and supporter of safe-housing for women in Cambridge, as well as the Cambridge Foundation. Jean was a key organizer and financial backer for Cambridge Cohousing, one of the first urban co-housing projects in the US. She always considered this her crowning achievement and lived there for 25 years until she moved around the corner to Cadbury Commons after she turned 100.
Jean trained as a psychologist and received advanced degrees from Tufts and Harvard Graduate School of Education. A Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute led to work as staff psychologist at the Cambridge Guidance Center, then as consultant to area schools for the Cambridge Follow Through Program. This evolved into consulting at a variety of schools and colleges under a program based at MacLean Hospital.
During the ‘80s, she re-established ties to St. Louis by representing her family on the board of her deceased father’s company in prolonged, sometimes bitter, negotiations ending in its sale.During this process, she discovered an interest in writing. In 2008 published her book Intimate Tyranny: Untangling Father’s Legacy, a memoir of her struggle to escape a turbulent childhood family and of the eventual sale of the family business. A second book followed: The View from #410: When Home is Cohousing.
The sale of the company enabled her to make a much-needed investment in a pioneering, cooperative, fair-trade company—Equal Exchange. The company prospered initially through coffee sales at churches and co-ops, and grew from there, as she remained active on its Board of Directors for decades.
She is predeceased by her sister, Joyce Porter, and her grandchild, Alexander Nolin. She is survived by her brother Raymond Kaltwasser of London, England and her three children: Jeffrey Mason of Bainbridge Island, WA; Julia Feudo of Lancaster, MA; and Andrea Nolin of Belmont, MA. She leaves 4 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
A Memorial Service will be held at a date and location TBD. RogersFuneralHome.net