Margaret "Peggy" Buckley

National Association of Social Workers member Margaret “Peggy” Buckley was probably a born social worker, according to this obituary in the Boston Globe.

When  Buckley saw another child mistreated at school she would feel badly and even cry. Her mother would then suggest ways for Buckley to handle the situation and make the child feel better.

Buckley, MSW, died of cancer on April 25 at age 67. She had an exceptional social work career, including working with gangs, the poor and Native Americans in Chicago; helping defuse tensions in Boston during turbulent school desegration in the 1970s; and reducing lead paint poisoning in children.

In fact, in 2001 Buckley received the Bernice K. Snyder Award for excellence in social work.

“She was always someone who believed in social work and that clinical social work was absolutely imperative in society, especially for poor people who couldn’t afford the services that the middle class got,” her ex-husband Zachary Klein said.