Joan also supported local historic preservation efforts in numerous city neighborhoods, and assisted in numerous lawsuits on behalf of those communities. Those years of aggressive preservation activity, so dependent on Joan’s financial assistance, inspired similar efforts in other cities.

While primarily identified with those issues, Joan’s enthusiastic support for civil rights and civil liberties was equally forward thinking. She stood by the ACLU when it was under fire for protecting the free speech rights of Nazis marching in Skokie, Illinois, in 1977. She was early in supporting gay rights and the right to shelter for the homeless.

Joan’s concern for the environment was significant. In 1963, Con Edison wanted to rip away a portion of Storm King Mountain on the Hudson River at Cornwall, one of the most dramatic sites on the river. It would have endangered the forest on top of the site, undermined the spawning ground for the recreationally and commercially important striped bass, and sparked further industrializing of this scenic waterway. A few residents in Cornwall started the fight, which led to the birth of both Scenic Hudson and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). These efforts awakened the public’s interest in the environmental and scenic importance of the river and clarified dramatically the need for public input in environmental policies.

The 1986 federal Safe Drinking Water Act required that all surface drinking-water supplies in the country be filtered. Joan agreed with the NRDC belief that the Catskill and Delaware systems did not need this because they were so rural. Instead, they instituted a program of acquisition of land by New York City to guarantee protection. It was a difficult agreement to be achieved but Joan supported the groups waging the effort. They succeeded.

Across the board, if it was new, bold and creative, Joan was there to support it financially and politically and to encourage the citizens leading the charge.