Mundy—Lisa Margaret Mundy, 98, on August 18, 2025, in Syracuse, N.Y. Lisa was born on May 24, 1927, to Maria and Heinrich Hafner in Frankfurt, Germany. In the 1930s, her parents’ outspoken opposition to Hitler made them targets of the Nazis. The Hafners fled to France. When Germany invaded France in 1940, they again became refugees, moving around France to escape the Nazis. In 1941, Lisa and her sister Lina were among the first refugee children that American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) brought to America. The two girls were hosted by a family in Hamburg, N.Y. Lisa’s parents and sister Ami survived the war and in 1947 came to the United States.
Lisa won a scholarship to Indiana University, where she met Richard “Dick” Mundy, a Quaker and conscientious objector to World War II. They married in 1949 and raised three children. At university, Lisa studied sociology and journalism, intending to write about social issues. Instead, she became an activist determined to work for justice, childhood education, and nuclear disarmament.
While Dick pursued his studies at the University of Chicago, Lisa helped establish a tutoring program for children in their southside neighborhood. The program blossomed into educational, art, and sports activities. In 1970, when Dick joined the faculty of Syracuse University in New York, Lisa took courses in remedial reading so she could tutor children and adults. She continued tutoring until she was 92.
Lisa and Dick joined Syracuse (N.Y.) Meeting in 1972 and quickly became revered members and a cherished presence in the meetinghouse on First Days. Lisa served on various committees, clerking the Peace and Social Action Committee and energizing the committee that organized a celebration of Bayard Rustin, the Quaker organizer behind the 1963 March on Washington.
Lisa reconnected with AFSC during the 1970s and 1980s through her work with AFSC’s Middle Atlantic Region (MAR) headquarters in Baltimore, Md., and its area office in Syracuse. At various times she was clerk of the Syracuse Advisory Committee overseeing local AFSC projects; a member of MAR’s Executive Committee; and a member of AFSC’s national Peace Education Committee. She also served on an AFSC committee holding vigils at the Seneca Arms Depot to oppose the deployment of cruise missiles. In 1983, she and four others climbed over the fence at the depot and were arrested.
In 1990, as an AFSC staff member in Syracuse, Lisa cofounded the Help Increase the Peace Program (HIPP), which used experiential workshops to teach nonviolent conflict resolution skills to students in public schools. She co-led many workshops as HIPP spread to 39 states and 15 countries. The principles introduced by Lisa in HIPP’s initial program manual continue to be used by the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) in its workshops for youth.
In 1996, Peace Action of Central New York presented its annual Peace Award to Lisa, citing her “tireless work for peace and justice” and her life “filled to overflowing with love and service to others.”
Lisa once told an interviewer, “There are two things in Quaker belief that are important to me. That there is God in every person—that shapes my relationship with everyone I meet. And ‘Let your life speak’—that makes me feel valid. It’s as simple as that.”
Lisa was predeceased by her husband, Richard Mundy, in 2007.
She is survived by three children, Evan Mundy, Jana Mundy, and Paul Mundy; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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