Jo Lindseth Busser, 70, an activist

Jo Lindseth Busser, 70, a community activist from West Mount Airy, died of lymphoma on Saturday, March 24, at Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse.

For more than a decade, Mrs. Busser served on the board of the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement, a resource center in Mount Airy, and in 2005, she chaired its strategic planning initiative.

An active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill since 1989, Mrs. Busser served on the vestry and grant review committees. She also coordinated St. Paul's involvement with the Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network, which provides temporary housing for families in need.

"She took an active interest in families in transitional housing, making them her lifelong friends," said Karin Richter, a church member and friend.

Mrs. Busser was development director for several years of the Episcopal Church of the Advocate soup kitchen in North Philadelphia.

In 2009, she helped organize the Tree of Life Conference on Israel and Palestine in Philadelphia, which led to a collaboration between St. Paul's Church and Mishkan Shalom synagogue in Roxborough.

Mrs. Busser and her husband, Bob, were volunteers with Hosts for Hospitals, opening their home to patients who came to Philadelphia for medical treatment.

A native of Cleveland, Mrs. Busser earned a bachelor's degree in art history from Connecticut College in 1963, and then worked for a year in New York City for the American Field Service, an international exchange program for students and adults.

Later, as volunteers for AFS, she and her husband hosted many foreign students over 50 years. The couple often visited the families of the students they hosted, including in Switzerland, Brazil, and Chile, their son Andrew said.

Mrs. Busser met her husband in New Haven, Conn., where she was working in an art gallery and he was an architectural student at Yale University. They married in 1965. After a trip around the world in 1968, they moved to Columbus, Ohio, where they raised a family.

When the children were grown, Mrs. Busser earned a law degree from Ohio State University in 1981. She practiced law in Columbus and edited the Ohio State University Law School Journal before moving to Philadelphia.

An avid flower and vegetable gardener, Mrs. Busser was on the Flower Guild at St. Paul's Church and regularly delivered bouquets to the sick and homebound.

She and her husband loved spending time with their grandchildren and vacationed with them on Cape Cod.

She was very energetic and had "a big personality," their son said. "She was lots of fun and filled with joy and optimism," he said.

"Jo shared her passions with others and recruited them to help with projects she believed in," Richter said. She was a great entertainer and could throw a party together on short notice for a good cause, she said.

In addition to her son and husband, Mrs. Busser is survived by sons Jonathan and Duncan; a sister; a brother; and seven grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 21, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia.

Donations may be made to AFS International, 1 Whitehall St., New York, N.Y. 10004.