Essential Nantucket since 1821
(Dec. 5, 2021) Nantucket Planning Board chair Judith Wegner died Friday, Dec, 3, 2021 after a short illness. She was 71.
Wegner was elected to the Planning Board in 2018 to fill the remainder of Joe Marklinger's term after he stepped down. She was reelected in 2020 and named chair later that year.
"We are all sad about her passing but were aware of her acute illness," planning director Andrew Vorce said Sunday. "The Planning Board was very important to her and she pushed herself to remain active."
Wegner often expressed concerns about over-development of the island, and said during her campaign she would like to see the town work more cooperatively to address it.
"Judith and I sort of grew on each other over time. We had a genuine mutual respect for each other that will remain an infinite part of me. We will all miss her voice, her character and her presence," said board member Nat Lowell, who often found himself on the opposite side of issue from Wegner.
Wegner and her husband Warren moved to Nantucket following her 2016 retirement from the University of North Carolina School of Law faculty.
She joined the law school in 1981 and served as dean from 1989-99.
Wegner was born in Windsor, Conn. in 1950 and attended public schools there. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1972 and her law degree from UCLA in 1976.
Prior to joining the UNC Law faculty, she worked in Washington, D.C. as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice and as a special Aassistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Her replacement on the Planning Board will be jointly appointed by the Select Board and the four remaining Planning Board members to serve until the May 10, 2022 Annual Town Election.
Voters at that time will elect a candidate to serve the remaining three years of her term, as well as fill the five-year seat currently held by Nat Lowell.
