PEP is sad to share that on August 2, 2026, just days before her 79th birthday, Ann Bowdish, PEP’s early childhood pioneer, passed away surrounded by her loving family.
Ann’s work with PEP began in 1972, when she was hired as an intern. Soon after she became a full-time staff member, launching a career with PEP that spanned four decades. During those 40 years, she developed PEP’s early childhood programming, earning PEP a reputation for expertise in this arena and inspiring many to follow in her footsteps.
In 1974, Ann joined PEP’s founder, Dr. Rico Pallotta, on a trip to Tennessee where they visited several Re-ED programs. One of those was the Regional Intervention Program (RIP). The team was so inspired by this family-centered model that the planning for PEP’s Early Childhood Centers (ECC) was quickly underway, and Ann was placed in the driver’s seat to move this initiative forward.
By November of 1976, PEP had opened its first Early Childhood Center (originally called Early Intervention Center). Response to this new service was so great that by 1978 PEP opened its second center on the west side of town.
Ann’s entrepreneurial and civic-minded spirit led her to find a unique way to staff this new program in the early days, engaging Junior League members as volunteers to add support to the initial minimal staffing complement.
Her solution-oriented mindset and collaborative spirit made her the ideal participant for community endeavors in service to early childhood development. In the late 1990s, government and foundation partners turned to PEP and to Ann to help design new programs to support the region’s youngest citizens. Most notable was the creation of Day Care Plus in 1997, a service designed to maintain young children with challenging behaviors in their existing child care settings.
As districts created more in-district services to serve young children, the demand for separate center-based early childhood services declined. In response to this market change, PEP closed its two Early Childhood Centers in 2011. Ann was now charged with dismantling the very program she had seeded and developed.
She navigated this change with her characteristic optimism and empathy, supporting her team through this sense of loss. She soon shifted the focus to the future as she helped PEP launch Early Childhood Plus, PEP’s collection of early childhood services that provides consultation, training and support to the professionals who serve and the adults who care for young children with special needs. Today, PEP Early Childhood Plus positively impacts the lives of more than 1,000 young children and their families each year. Jim Flynn, who now leads this program shared these sentiments about Ann:
"It’s hard to overstate the impact Ann had on my life, from her many kindnesses to her mentorship and her friendship. The people we surround ourselves with often shape who we become. In Ann, I found someone who made me better. She was deeply kind, a professional trailblazer, a champion for children and simply a delight to be around."
Ann Bowdish was a smart, generous woman who possessed a sharp eye for hope and the ability to infuse joy in all situations, always focusing her best energy in the direction of improving the lives of children and their families. She leaves a remarkable legacy, rooted in a belief that caring, trusting relationships hold the power to unleash the potential in all people.
Laurie Albright, a key leader of PEP’s Early Childhood Centers and Ann’s dear colleague, great friend and travel companion for the past five decades, shared these words:
“Through it all, Ann’s energy, wit, attention to detail, planning, compassion, and dedication to creating a better environment for children and families has been truly remarkable. We are all better for having Ann in our lives.”
A memorial service for Ann Bowdish will be held on Saturday, August 29, 2026, at Church of the Resurrection, 32001 Cannon Rd., Solon, OH. Visitation at 12:00 pm, funeral mass at 1:00 pm with luncheon afterward.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Alzheimer's Association or the Susan Larson Scholarship Fund of the Junior League of Cleveland. Her online obituary can be found here.