Edstrom, Diane, former professor and Visual Arts Coordinator at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill passed away on January 1, 2010. Ms. Edstrom taught painting and drawing at NECC for seventeen years. Previously, she taught Commercial Art at Whittier Vocational Technical School in Haverhill. Art was central to her life from childhood. The bulk of her work was painting though, in recent years, she created many large scale installations. A talented artist, Diane was the recipient of numerous awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Painting, a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, and she was invited by the Fullbright Commission to lecture and exhibit in Columbia, South America. Her work can be viewed at dianeedstrom.com. She was a devoted but demanding teacher. Many of her students went on to graduate from highly competive art colleges. During the course of her teaching career, she spent a great deal of time in Italy, eventually taking students to Rome to paint and study the art of that great city. She was an activist and founding member of the Stoneybrook Neighborhood Association in the early 1970’s. Diane was an avid gardner who derived great pleasure from her home which was built by her grandfather in 1926. She is remembered by her sister Joan Edstrom, her brother Bernard Edstrom, a niece and three nephews and many friends and students. Services will be held at the Lucy Stone Chapel at Forest Hills Crematory 171 Walk Hill St. Jamaica Plain on Saturday January 9 at 12 Noon. Everyone is welcome to attend. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute 44 Binney St. Boston MA 02115.