Ann Land, former 4th-District councilwoman, dies at 77

IN THE pressure-cooker that City Council can be, it helped to have a sense of humor. And Ann J. Chambers Land had that knack for finding something to chuckle about amid the pressures of her job as a councilwoman.

Councilwoman Joan Krajewski said that that was one of Land's saving graces. "You needed that in that job," she said.

Ann Land, who represented the 4th District on Council for 10 years in the '80s, died Tuesday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 77 and lived in Sea Isle City, N.J.

"She was a good person," said Krajewski, elected in 1980, the same year that Land won a special councilmanic election. "She was a people person. She always took the time to talk with people.

"She listened to her constituents and was concerned with their problems. She would try to help them in any way she could."

One of the chuckles she and Land had together was when former Inquirer columnist Steve Lopez called them the "Boom Boom Girls" when he found out that they played slot machines in Las Vegas while attending a National League of Cities convention in 1987.

Far from being offended, the two "laughed at it," Krajewski said.

But when it came to serving her constituents, Land was serious and efficient.

"She was the friendliest, most compassionate person I ever knew," said her daughter Ann Marie. "I wish I was more like her.

"People were always coming up to us and telling us what our mother did for them. They would say, 'Your mother was such a lady. We just loved her.' "

After Land and her husband, John, moved to Sea Isle City in 1996, Land took a job as a desk clerk at the Sea Isle Inn, "just because she was such a social person," her daughter said.

"And even there, people would come up to her and say, 'I know you.' She wasn't forgotten, because of what she did for people."

In 1980, Land won the special councilmanic election to fill out the term of then-Council President George X. Schwartz, who was caught up in a federal sting known as Abscam.

The 4th District comprises East Falls and Roxborough, Manayunk, West Mount Airy and parts of West and North Philadelphia, a sprawling district that Land took care of until 1991, when she was ousted by Michael Nutter, now the mayor.

Raised in North Philadelphia, Ann Land got an early taste of politics while serving on the Student Council at John W. Hallahan High School. She graduated in 1950.

She worked in the offices of various companies before marrying John Land, a beverage distributor in West Philadelphia, in 1954.

Land became active in Democratic politics and campaigned for John F. Kennedy. She was a committeewoman, and was elected leader of the 38th Ward in the late '70s.

She worked as a state Senate librarian in Harrisburg years before becoming a councilwoman.

After her loss to Nutter, Land became a community-relations specialist for the Philadelphia Gas Works. Some criticized that appointment as a patronage deal, to which then-Mayor John Street replied, "I think it's a disgrace that somebody like Ann Land - who has given so much to the city - should have difficulty getting a job."

Land's husband died in 2004.

She is also survived by two other daughters, Susan Pownall and Patti; a brother, Robert; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A son, John, died in 1989, and another son, Robert, died in 2004.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Bridget's Church, 3673 Midvale Ave. Friends may call at 6 p.m. Monday and 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Clare McIlvaine Mundy Funeral Home, 7384 Ridge Ave. Burial will be in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd.

Donations may be made to the Make a Wish Foundation, One Valley Square, 512 Township Line Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422.