Bonnie Osler, former Lewes deputy mayor

Bonnie Osler (nee Lois Bonsal Osler), 67, died peaceably in her home in Sandwich, N.H., Saturday, Nov. 20, 2024, holding her spouse’s hand. Her brother, Jonathan Cary Osler, was also present. The cause of death was a rare, aggressive, unspecified adenocarcinoma.  

Osler served on the city council from May 2012 to May 2021. She served as an ex officio member of the Lewes Planning Commission and the Historic Preservation and Architectural Review Commission.  During her tenure, she modernized the finance committee, which she chaired, by adopting a solid conservative investment policy and championing the hiring of an investment advisor to manage the funds responsibly. She co-chaired the ad hoc police review committee, rewrote the city’s ethics laws to be a state model, pressed for an inventory of the city’s property, which had not been done, and pressed for the conversion of the “paper streets” on Cedar Avenue to open space, as well as the city’s retention of the large meeting room at the Rollins Center. It was clear to her that the city’s problems were increasingly complex and with it more public participation. The council chambers at city hall could not accommodate all who should be heard. No problem, however, was too small. She worked with the Streets Department to install yellow flags at high-volume corners so people could carry them and stop motorists from speeding by. She said, “If they can stop a lobbyist on Connecticut Avenue in D.C., they’ll work in Lewes.” 

Osler was also active in various community groups such as serving on the boards of Historic Lewes Farmers Market and the Greater Lewes Community Village, and was active in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. 

Prior to her becoming a member of the city council, she was deputy chief counsel for litigation at the Transportation Security Administration, helping to start up the department and its policies when the agency was created after 9/11. Before that, she was an assistant branch director and trial attorney at the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she defended the programs and policies of the government. 

Osler graduated from Bryn Mawr College magna cum laude in 1979 and University of Virginia Law School in 1984. 

Among other things, she was known for her unwavering moral compass, adherence to the rule of law, compassion, sense of humor, civility and gardens.

She is survived by her spouse of 34 years, Brook Hedge; her brothers, Jonathan Cary Osler (Jody) of Virginia, and Richard Osler (Kathryn) of Texas; a former sister-in-law, Anne Hunting (Ari Mintz) of Illinois; six wonderful nephews and nieces; even more great-nephews and -nieces; and many cousins and friends, near and far, whom Bonnie held dear.

A memorial service will be held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in early spring.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 464, Lewes, DE 19958; Historic Lewes Farmers Market, P.O. Box 185, Nassau, DE 19969; Church Island Chapel, P.O. Box 356, Holderness, NH 03245; Squam Lakes Conservation Society, P.O. Box 696, Holderness, NH 03245; or Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Marion Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-2809.