Anne Burchsted Sayigh

Anne Burchsted Sayigh, organic chemist and retired Executive Vice President of PAREXEL, died on March 18, 2016 after having lived with Alzheimer’s disease for many years.

Anne was born in Ridgewood, NJ on June 13, 1927. She and her cousin Carol VanSickle grew up next door to each other and were lifelong friends. Earliest stories of Anne include her bucking the system – walking home on the railroad tracks and swimming in the water tower across the street against the express wishes of her mother, and spending the bulk of her elementary school years in the library, due to disrupting her classmates out of boredom.

Anne’s renegade attitude followed her to Radcliffe. The day her Chemistry professor told the class that it was too full and he planned to flunk out as many women as possible was the day Anne chose it as her major. Her favorite sport in college was crew, but when the Harvard boys came back from the war, the women’s team was told they couldn’t use the boathouse anymore.

After graduating from Radcliffe in 1949, Anne went on to get her PhD in Chemistry at Columbia University in 1954, where she met her husband, Adnan Sayigh, another brilliant PhD candidate who hailed from Iraq. The couple moved to Baghdad, but when Anne almost miscarried early in pregnancy, she returned to the US. There she gave birth to her first daughter, Sara, in 1955.

Adnan found employment in North Haven, CT. It was not so easy for Anne however – there wasn’t much demand for women with PhDs in the 50s. Frustrated but resigned, Anne threw herself into motherhood. She had three more children, Allen, Sophia, and Laela, and held leadership positions in the League of Women Voters of CT, fighting especially for environmental quality and land use issues.

In the 1970s the possibilities Anne had waited a lifetime for finally arrived. She returned to school and received an MBA at the age of 51. She moved to Arlington, MA and found a job in Regulatory Affairs. A coworker, Josef von Rickenbach, suggested the two of them start their own company. It was a big risk, but also a lifelong dream for Anne. She consulted her children, who knew if anyone could succeed, it was her. In 1982 PAREXEL began at Anne’s dining room table, and today has over 18,000 employees worldwide and is valued at over three billion dollars. Anne retired in 1996 and spent her free time visiting her children and grandchildren, relaxing at the beach in Eastham, MA, and traveling the world.

In 2004 Anne was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. While this horrible disease robbed her of many of the intellectual pastimes she had enjoyed, it did not extinguish her essential being – the maverick. Anne took Concord Park Assisted Living by storm, and once settled, she won the staff over with the force of her personality, never losing the sparkle in her eye, as blue as the cloudless sky she was always quick to comment on.

Beloved mother of Sara Sayigh and her husband Mark Dreessen of Chicago, IL; Allen Sayigh and his wife Julie Sayigh of Seattle, WA; Sophia Sayigh and her husband Richard Sladkey of Arlington, MA; and Laela Sayigh and her husband Alessandro Bocconcelli of Woods Hole, MA. Proud grandmother of Samuel, Ramzi, and Amina Dreessen; Fredrick and Nadia Sladkey; Carlo and Luisa Bocconcelli; and Daphne Sayigh.

Memorial donations: Union of Concerned Scientists, www.ucsusa.org/memorial

Memorial service: Saturday, March 26, 2016, 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Whittemore-Robbins House, 670R Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02476

Funeral arrangements provided by Anderson-Bryant Funeral Home, 4 Common St., Stoneham, MA 02180, 781-438-0135