December 11, 2010
Cann, Cristina I. (Scherbinin)
Cristina I Cann, formerly of Brookline, passed away on Dec 6, 2010 after a 7 year battle with cancer. She passed away peacefully, in her sleep, with a smile and her family by her side. Born in Argentina, Cristina was the daughter of Iunia Sherbinin. Along with her mother and her sister, Marianne, she moved to the United States in 1962. Cristina married Richard Cann in Los Angeles in 1964. In Cincinnati, Cristina fulfilled her childhood dream of flying planes, by becoming a licensed pilot. Not deterred by becoming lost on her very first solo flight, she recovered by following highways to Indianapolis. She went on to ferry a Cessna from Wichita back home. Cristina always described herself as a mongrel. Not because of her caring for needy animals, which was legendary,. but because of her diverse ethnic background. Though born in Buenos Aires, her heritage was Indian/African, Japanese, Russian and Polish. So she astounded many with understanding 7 different languages. Her ability to speak French and Spanish fluently was a great asset in her professional work as an epidemiologist of international renown. Over the years she worked at Harvard School of Public Health, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), University of Massachusetts, Epidemiology Journal, Health Effects Institute, and Decision Resources. She was a major contributor the World Association of Medical Editors. Details of her career are revealed from a world wide web search by searching for unique name. Cristina leaves behind her husband Richard; her son Julien, his wife Susan; and two charming granddaughters- Christine and Caitlin. Cristina’s life had been dedicated towards searching for the truth. She urged all of us to do the same. Cristina’s funeral services and interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Greyhound Friends, Inc., 167 Saddle Hill Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748 or www.greyhound.org would be appreciated.
Comments(14)
Dear Richard and Julien ( and family)
We were so sorry to read about the death of Cristina today. We remember many good times on Salisbury and Kilsyth Roads.
Cathy and Jerry Sadow
Dear Richard, Jay and family,
I will be forever grateful for my times with Cristina. She was one of the dearest people I have ever known. Her contagious enthusiasm for learning and compassionate nature made her an inspiring and patient teacher. She was a gifted writer who was forever curious and willing to take time to seek truth. She was a spectacularly bright star whose light will live on in her precious family, her fortunate friends,and in her life’s work. Rest in peace dear Cristina.
I am very sad to learn of Cristina’s passing. She possessed such a warm, vibrant intelligence, and, always, a deep caring interest in others. Her vibrant personality will be missed greatly. It’s hard to find words to express how wonderful she was. Judy from Dr. Burnes office.
Dear Richard and Family,
The days when Cristina was in the Epidemiology Resources office working with Ken on the journal Epidemiology were joyful days. She brightened the office with her enthusiasm and added her own focused brand of searching for the truth to all we did. I looked forward to our discussions and was ever entertained about her animal stories. Her memory will remain a beacon for me.
Dear Richard and Family,
I had the pleasure of working with Cristina at the Epidemiology Resources Office where we shared space with the journal Epidemiology. Cristina was always so joyful about her work, her family, her life. She was truly dedicated to searching for the truth, in life and in her work, where she fought for truth one error at a time. She was passionate about everything. There was just one Cristina–she will be missed.
Dear Christina I Cann,
You have always been an inspiration in the WAME community. There is no alternative for your absence in the forum….
May your soul rest in peace.
Cristina was a most wonderful woman, with an incredible feel for life. I cannot accept she is gone but I also know she somehow must have decided the death she “wanted”: during her sleep, surrounded by the ones she loved, at the time she felt it was time for her to go. This is the ultimate freedom and she was a free woman.
To me, she represented my only real, true “American” friend. Through her profound understanding of life and of human relations she was a perfect friend, able to hear and guess everything without ever judging people. She was also always willing to help and putting the needs of others before her own ones. During the pregancy of my son, she helped me find the best places where to have a proper diagnosis of what turned out to be a false positive. She contributed to saving the life of Livio.
She was a woman of incredible knowledge in medicine and epidemiology. She was someone always getting deep into what she was doing and she would have deserved the most brilliant career. I was incredibly lucky that she accepted to come and live with my kids and myself for a few months when I asked her to work in my Unit at the International Agency for Research on Cancer – World Health Organization in Lyon. She was brilliant, knowledgeable, able to communicate in 7 languages, perfecly trilingual and may be more, a true citizen of the world. I shall miss her so much till I myself leave this world.
Julien and Richard who I know, and the family I do not know be assured your mother and wife was the best you could have had and she did for you, as for many other people , the best she could, and that was much more than so many would have ever done. You have been incredibly lucky to share so many years , good and bad moments with her. In happiness as in difficult times she was sunshine in your lives and in many lives.
Cristina was “just” great and she will be missed by so many people around the world.
I was saddened to read about Cristina’s passing in the Brookline Tab this past Thursday. I met Cristina and developed a friendship with her on the sidewalk of her Brookline home; we were neighbors and often spoke as I passed by on a frequent basis. Through our chats I came to know of her work and background and had the utmost respect for her thinking of our current health care system. In addition I came to learn of her total devotion and love for her family; she spoke especially of her grandchildren and also of her husband and son. I moved to another neighborhood over a year ago and we continued to keep in contact by email; she kept in touch by sending along various emails from the variety of groups she was a part of and tracked. We always shared tidbits of our lives as the emails went back and forth. Cristina was so excited to be sharing a home with her son, daughter in law and children. I can only imagine their loss as I wish for yet again another point of contact with her. I hope these words of acknowledgment of her special ability to connect to others and to love are a comfort as they navigate and adjust to these days without her.
Dear Richard,
Our Pt. Judith and potluck meetings were brief, but Cristina’s warm and joyful outook made an immediate and lasting impression. I will continue to remember her fondly.
Please take good care of yourself.
-Barbara
Cristina was so kind hearted and sweet, one sometimes forgot she was also very smart, determined, and dedicated to high quality in her work and other activities. She always seemed to be so supportive of her family, co-workers, and various animals in her neighborhood and elsewhere. It seems hard to grasp that she is gone, but I know she made a deep impression on me, and I think many others as well.
Dear Richard, Julien, Susan,Christine and Caitlin,
Please accept my condolences. I shall remember Cristina, with the deepest affection, as a most compassionate, gentle and intellectually courageous person. Our friendship was a blessing and a privilege.
Dear Richard, Julien, Susan, Christine, and Caitlin,
I have only just learned of Cristina’s passing, and I am deeply saddened by the news. I will always cherish my memories of Cristina’s kind and cheerful temperament, generous spirit, and commitment to excellence in her work and many other passions. I will also remain most grateful to her for convincing me to take the administrative job with the laryngeal cancer study that she worked on with Ken and others (way back when I first finished college!), since that is the primary reason that I am now a cancer epidemiologist myself! She has been a blessing to my life in so many ways.
I doubt you need me to tell you of the delight she took in each of you–it was always so evident in the ways she passed along family news when I would occasionally bump in to her around Brookline. As I’m sure you all do, I shall miss her very much but always remember her with her beautiful big smile and huge heart.
I first met Christina perhaps 40 years ago when I moved across the hall from her and Richard, and Julien, when he was just a toddler. I so enjoyed talking with her and being with the whole family. I never knew she ever flew an airplane but she was my go to person for everything medical. She had just started on her first file cabinet of information collection at that time. A short time before she died we were laughing on the phone about her 8 or 9 file cabinets and my own collection of information and memorabilia. What would we ever do with all?
I remember a few years later, telling Richard and Christina that the house I was then living in was going on sale and they ended up buying it and becoming my landlords. We were across the hall again. (only it was upstairs and down stairs). I loved being able to drop in and see her, hear her laughter and giggles when ever we talked. She found humor in so much of our human condition. I loved being around Julien and a “real family” . I bought fruit trees as a house warming gift, and the last time I drove through Sommerville ( 12-13 years ago) they had over run the property.
I reached out to Christina after some years of being out of touch ( I had moved to Washington state) . It was as if we had been in daily contact, for the last 12 years. It was then I learned about her cancer and how she had been treating herself. I am so sure she lived for 7 additional years because she knew exactly what was right for her. We were still able to laugh and poke fun at each other’s foibles and I felt such a warm connection. I had no idea our renewed acquaintance had such a short time to be. I am so sorry that Richard and the rest of her family have lost such a wonderful person. Speaking from my own experience, I know Christina will be with each one of you everyday, in the best way, in your hearts and memories. You always hear her laughter.
To misquote a children’s book, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my friend you’ll be.”
“Love You Forever” by Robert N. Munsch
I knew Cristina from being on the Board of the League of Women Voters of Brookline MA from 1992 – 2000. She and I worked on the LWV newsletter. She got me up to speed on local Brookline issues and made my transition from the Boston League to the Brookline League an easy one. She was always great at giving helpful advice when it was most needed. Her vast intelligence and knowledge on a wide variety of topics impressed all who knew her. When she was first ill, she downplayed any pain or complications. For a long time, many of us did not even know she had been bravely fighting cancer. The last time I chatted with her at length in 2008, she was very hopeful that her cancer was in remission. I am writing this tribute to her over a year late because I was out of the loop for a few years due to a move out to Charlestown. No one had informed me that she had taken a turn for the worse. My embarrassingly belated sympathies to her extended family and friends. I was honored to have known her.