Suzanne Rowe Palacino, 59, of Wellesley, Mass., died of cancer at her home on April 23, 2024. Her husband James and daughters Nicole and Tara were by her side.
Suzanne attended Pittsford, NY public schools, and cheered enthusiastically for the Sutherland High School Knights as a varsity cheerleader. She studied marketing and French at SUNY Oswego, then began a long and distinguished career at Xerox.
Suzanne met her husband through the young adult group at Holy Trinity Church in Washington, DC where James was a social director. They were married in Wellesley in 1996 and began their lives together in Chicago, where Suzanne worked for Xerox and James, a biomedical scientist, earned his PhD at Loyola University.
In 2001, the Palacinos settled in Wellesley, where they enjoyed the changing seasons, skiing in winter and hiking and visiting beaches in the summer. Suzanne left Xerox in 2007 and focused on her girls, teaching them to be self-confident and find their own paths.
Inspired by the Buddhist community at Wellesley College, Suzanne also began to study and practice mindfulness, eventually becoming a certified mindfulness facilitation trainer through the UCLA Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She led mindfulness sessions even in the last weeks of her life. Her thoughtful approach to life extended to how she treated the earth. She was a committed recycler and it was difficult to find a plastic bag in Suzanne’s kitchen.
Living mindfully did not mean living quietly. She made friends quickly and kept them for decades. Suzanne’s laugh was an unrestrained delight, and she was wired for fun: a hip-hop dancer, connoisseur of clever greeting cards, and once seen skiing in a banana suit. Her wedding reception might still be going on if she and James hadn’t taken pity on the staff of Wellesley College Club.
Suzanne was preceded in death by her parents, Donald and Madelyn Rowe. In addition to James, Nicole and Tara, she is survived by her sister, Kathleen Rowe.
A celebration of her life will be held on July 13, 2024, at Wellesley Chapel on the campus of Wellesley College. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to James Palacino’s Pan- Mass Challenge bike ride to support the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (PMC ID – JP0529).
