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Remembering Judith "Judy" H. Linn
Judy Linn (March 4, 1939–May 8, 2023) was a founding member of the New England Chapter and a central figure in AMWA for nearly half a century. Along with dozens of other roles, Judy coordinated the New England Chapter newsletter from the 1970s until 2022. A sample newsletter that she produced is linked below. Judy used the newsletter to build a chapter culture that is inclusive, welcoming, and nurturing. I endeavor to honor her legacy by continuing to foster this welcoming culture into the future.
-Ellie Lin, New England Chapter President 2023-2024
Judy Linn was a no-nonsense kind of gal. She called it as she saw it. Once, I injured myself falling down a flight of stairs and had to miss a chapter meeting. While others expressed sympathy, Judy said, “Sounds like you need to buy a pair of rubber-soled shoes.”
Judy was whip-smart, funny, and wise. A founder of the chapter, her head was full of useful facts about AWMA past and present. Her contributions to the chapter were innumerable. As New England Chapter membership director and newsletter editor, she safeguarded the information that made the organization function. She also mentored members, broke in new officers, and gave sage advice about all aspects of the chapter. Judy liked to chat, and a phone call with her often lasted an hour, but her ideas always made it worth it.
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-Nancy Knoblock Hunton
As a new member in 1997, Judy called to welcome me to the chapter and talk to me about my background. As a scientist used to scientific meetings, I was thrilled to be welcomed in this way.
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Judy was a connector—she connected me to others she thought would be interested in my work. She even called me once to tell me who to talk to at the next in-person AMWA meeting. As a result, I changed the way I looked at meetings. I often went to meetings to connect with particular people, as well as other AMWA members. Judy was always thrilled to receive a phone call to ask about people with particular expertise, or particular connections. She loved to chat and had a good sense of humor. Through her connections, Judy helped me start my freelancing career. I sustain it the same way, thanks to Judy. May she rest in peace.
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-Andrea Gwosdow
I cannot claim to have known Judy well, but I met her several times at AMWA events and exchanged messages and holiday cards with her from about 2010 to 2018. Judy was unfailingly encouraging and helpful in her job-related suggestions. She seemed to have a vast memory for names and faces.
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I also remember her generous efforts in building and distributing the AMWA Newsletter. I was struck by the level of energy she gave to advancing AWMA communications.
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-Elizabeth S. Coons
It turns out that most of my career success results from my inability to say no to Judy Linn.
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In 1991, I was working as a managing editor for a very small, niche journal. The work was not particularly challenging, and I supposed there was a range of other opportunities within the broader world of science/medical communication. I was flipping through a copy of Gale’s Book of Associations at the public library one day and found a listing for AMWA. I reached out to Headquarters and was directed to the New England Chapter.
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Before I could follow up, I received a call from a woman named Judy Linn, the New England Chapter membership chair. We chatted for a long while and she provided the logistics for the upcoming meeting. With some trepidation I arrived at the venue, where Judy had a name tag waiting for me along with a reserved seat at her table and a "buddy" for the evening. I had a nice time and went home. And then Judy leapt into action.
Early on, Judy had a hunch that I had leadership potential. Within days of the meeting, she asked me to join the board. I said no, but she badgered me until I said yes. We talked informally about how much I enjoyed teaching and suddenly I was creating and teaching AMWA-certified workshops. Judy said “hey—that new BELS certification for editors? You should take the exam!” I protested, but she insisted. Or “It’s about time a New England Chapter member was chosen for an AMWA fellowship. I’m going to nominate you!” I declined, citing my self-perceived lack of qualifications, but to no avail.
That first dinner meeting was in 1991. By 1993, I was the Chapter Program Chair, and in 1994, I was the Chapter President. In 1998, I became certified as an Editor, Life Sciences, and in 1999, I taught my first regional—and then national—workshops. In 2005 I was named an AMWA Fellow. And in 2015, I received the Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching AMWA workshops. I served on the national AMWA board for several years and chaired a number of committees. Over the years, these activities led to sustained employment opportunities, professional collaborations, and global speaking engagements. All because of Judy’s insistence that I stretch myself and take on new challenges as they arose.
Judy was smart, erudite, and wickedly funny. She had a distinctive laugh tinged with the hoarseness that comes from 50 years of smoking cigarettes. She could speak about politics, sports, and entertainment because she read several newspapers every day, including her beloved NY Times. She loved crossword puzzles, The New Yorker, and had an enormous library that included works from science fiction and medicine to psychology and history. And she had a lifetime supply of sticky notes, paper clips, pens, mechanical pencils, steno books, and badge holders because “You never know!”.
Judy loved AMWA and was the most successful membership coordinator in AMWA’s history. She was committed to networking long before it became a "thing." She maintained a chapter archive that spanned close to 50 years. She could recall where every meeting over the years had been held, the topic, and who attended. She attended every chapter meeting, sitting by the entranceway with name tags, attendee lists, and a quick quip. One time her car broke down on the way to a workshop day in Worcester. Grabbing the 10 boxes of cookies she had brought for a planned coffee break, she hailed a cab on the Mass Turnpike and got herself to the meeting—on time!
She wrote notes to members congratulating them on professional success or wishing them well in a new move or life change. She made it a point to sit with new members at meetings, to gauge their interest as prospective chapter leaders. She singlehandedly typeset and mailed the chapter newsletter until we convinced her that it was more efficient to distribute it electronically. And despite griping about the transition from writing personal notes to sending email, she embraced the Internet and technology. Turns out she had owned a computer for many more years than she let on—but “only a Mac and never a PC!”.
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Eventually, Judy slowed down and was unable to attend chapter meetings. I would go and then report back about the speaker or the topic and maybe add in some gossip I picked up along the way. She and I would spend many hours on the phone, cogitating on life, the English language, and the Oxford comma.
Judy was a wonderful mentor and friend, and I miss her dearly. She was truly the "heart and soul" of the New England Chapter. But her legacy lives on with the Judy Linn Membership Award given to an early-stage medical writer in the New England area. And I know she’d be thrilled that her beloved chapter is thriving with vibrant new leadership and membership—even if someone new is distributing the name tags!
- Jill Shuman
Member Profile Published in the AMWA-NE Newsletter 2002
Judy Linn, the backbone of AMWA’s New England chapter, hadn’t planned to become a medical writer and editor. In fact, she wasn’t even sure what one was when offered the position in a Harvard affiliated behavioral psychology laboratory in the 1960s. With a psychology degree from Brown University and graduate courses in experimental psychology at Tufts, she had written to the laboratory director pleading for a job. Impressed by her letter and obvious flair for writing, he asked her to set up an editorial services office.
Later, when he left for another job, her boss urged her to become a freelance and gave her a desk, a typewriter, and an invaluable list of contacts. Among them was the renowned psychologist B. F. Skinner, whom Judy got to know simply as Fred. Working on papers for Skinner’s friends (he wrote his own), former laboratory colleagues, and associates at various hospitals kept her busy.
Her personal life was active, too. A month out of college, Judy married her high-school sweetheart, Harold Rosenberg. After a summer in Europe, the couple settled in Waltham, Massachusetts. Later they built a house in Wayland, close to her hometown of Newton. In the late 1960s, Judy took several courses in the new science communication graduate program at Boston University (BU). But before she had even finished her degree, she was asked to join the teaching team.
For the next dozen years, she taught two courses a semester and was appointed an adjunct assistant professor. During her years at BU, she was instrumental in setting up
the Science in New England News Service, which sent student-written science stories to newspapers throughout the region. She earned her MS degree along the way—with a progress report to the National Science Foundation, which funded the news service, serving as her master’s thesis.
Judy joined AMWA in 1969. In 1976, Dave Premo, a BU colleague, encouraged her to attend an organizing meeting for a local chapter. She ended up becoming the first New England chapter secretary and, a year later, president. Judy put together the group’s first newsletter, which she has done adroitly ever since.
In addition, she took charge of membership and doubled the number of chapter members in a year and a half. Her success led to her being asked to build membership on a national level. Working with Don Radcliffe of Chicago, she conducted huge membership campaigns in the 1980s. “We were a good team,” she says. “He’s very creative. I’m very compulsive.” In all, Judy has recruited a record number of new members for AMWA—more
than 600—and helped set up new chapters across the United States and in Canada. In 1978, she was named an AMWA fellow in recognition of her professional achievements and contributions to AMWA. She was elected president of the national association in 1985 and oversaw the transformation of the
AMWA Journal into the professional publication it is today.
Judy is the glue that holds the 450-plus members of the New England chapter together. She has long insisted that there be no head table at meetings and made sure that all newcomers are welcomed into the group. Devoted to AMWA, she spends countless hours offering sage advice to green officers and counseling members, old and new alike.
As if that weren’t enough, she arranged the chapter’s earliest Connecticut meetings (for members unable to attend Boston-area ones), planned and administered the first three popular Sturbridge educational conferences, and for many years served as codirector of the Will Solimene Awards for Excellence in Medical Communication.
Her dedication was recognized last year at the New England chapter’s 25th anniversary celebration. The governor of Massachusetts declared it Judy Linn Day, AMWA’s president sent a letter of commendation, and the chapter made her a life AMWA member and created a membership award in her honor. The tributes flowed, and try as she might, Judy couldn’t escape the well-deserved limelight.
~Nancy Knoblock Hunton (2002)
Dr. Tim Johnson, Honors Award Recipient, signing a copy of his book The Truth About Getting Sick in America for Awards Committee members Helen Osborne and Judy Linn. Photo by Nancy Knoblock Hudson.
