Suzanne Pogell

On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Suzanne M. Pogell, nee Suzanne Miller, passed away quietly in Cleveland Heights, OH, after a protracted battle with congestive heart failure and dementia. Born March 12, 1932, she lived ninety-four productive years as a dedicated social justice warrior, business owner, devoted parent, and someone who fully embodied the ethic of hard work. Born and bred in Baltimore, MD., Suzanne had one sister, Emily (Miller) Rody, whom she admired greatly and who served as a well-respected attorney in Baltimore. Suzanne also adored her parents, but was in awe of her mother, Beatrice Cooper Miller, a feminist before her time, who raised her daughters to be the ambitious, glass-ceiling breaking women they became. In high school, Suzanne skipped a number of grades and graduated with a B.A. from Goucher College in Towson, MD at age sixteen; she earned her Master's Degree in Latin American Studies from the SUNY-Albany, after falling in love with Argentinian history during her two-year sojourn there with her husband, Burton Pogell, a professor of biochemistry and researcher. Suzanne lived in many places because of her husband's work, in addition to Argentina, including Denmark, Nashville, TN, Albany, NY, and St. Louis, MO. When they divorced, Suzanne moved to Annapolis, MD to be nearby family. Eventually she relocated to Cleveland, OH, where her daughter Sarah currently resides.

Suzanne will be remembered for her ardent support of minorities, serving as a foot soldier in the 1960s Civil Rights movement while in Nashville, TN, where her husband held a post-doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University. Engaging in sip-ins and sit-ins with young black SNCC students, Suzanne managed, in one memorable incident, to integrate a Tottle House coffee shop by refusing to take "No" for an answer to her query, "Won't you serve these young students? They're hungry!" Suzanne continued her political activism throughout her life, often with her only child, Sarah, in tow, canvassing for progressive candidates and causes, like the ERA, the Pro-Choice movement, and protesting various wars. In addition to striving for peace and justice, Suzanne was deeply committed to the environment, calling herself a panentheist after the American Transcendentalists. In St. Louis, she devoted herself to protecting natural areas from toxic drain water run-off, and in the course of her tenure at the Metropolitan Sewer District, met progressive politician Donna Shalala. Suzanne continued her environmental work in Annapolis, as the PR director for the Smithsonian's Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies, and then as a consultant for the EPA, in Washington, D.C. Annapolis was also the place Suzanne fell in love with sailing, and, looking for a way to combine her desire to help women, her newfound passion for sailing, and her PR prowess, founded one of the first women's sailing schools in the U.S: Womanship, Inc., which she successfully ran throughout the U.S. and internationally as CEO for nearly thirty years. Importantly, Suzanne managed to stake her claim in the male-dominated sport of sailing by empowering women to take the helm and not remain relegated to the galley.

Up until the day she died, Suzanne was funny, feisty, loving. She will be terribly missed by her only child, Sarah Cooper Pogell, her nieces, Annie Rody-Wright, Caroline Rody-Ramazani, Elizabeth Rody-Koenig, and her nephew David Rody; her extended family and friends; staff at her assisted living facility; and her care-giving team at hospice. May her beloved soul rest in peace.

Services at Baltimore Hebrew Berrymans Lane Cemetery, 318 Berrymans Lane, Reisterstown, MD 21136, on Sunday, December 20th, 2026 at 11:00 AM. Please omit flowers.