Dr. Patricia Jones Blessman

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." Horace Mann

​

Dr. Patricia Jones Blessman does not “come out of retirement.” She re-emerges like a highly educated social-impact supervillain with a Northwestern degree in one hand, a climate-change documentary credit in the other, and a portfolio that asks every dollar “what are your values?” A retired clinical psychologist with forty years in the trenches of mental health, Dr. Jones Blessman somehow decided that wasn’t enough pressure, influence, or responsibility for one lifetime. So naturally, she pivoted into public-health advocacy, venture investing, environmental sustainability, cannabis youth education, and reshaping society from approximately seventeen different boardrooms at once.

​

Currently in her era of what can only be described as “rethrivement” — a state beyond retirement where accomplished people become even more powerful — Dr. Jones Blessman serves as Board President of A Boy and His Dream, Vice President of HelloBaby, board member of CodePink; Women for Peace, and advisor/investor to multiple mission-driven ventures including Blacks in Green, Pigment International, and Destiny Outreach. Patricia Jones Blessman apparently buys influence and deploys it strategically for social change. With her husband Stephen Blessman, she moves through the world like an ESG-powered dynasty. The Blessmans are members of the Social Venture Network and sustaining members of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, where phrases like “triple bottom line,” “social responsibility,” and “environmental sustainability” are not buzzwords — they are operating instructions.

And then there’s the family legacy.

​

The Blessman wealth lineage traces back to George Eastman himself. Yes, that George Eastman. Which means Dr. Jones Blessman is effectively carrying forward the ethical ghost of George Eastman Founder of Kodak while screening investments for moral alignment with the man who created a fortune bringing joy to millions through innovation. Their private equity interests have included LEED-certified developments, green manufacturing, and cutting-edge sustainable ventures — because apparently making money is not enough unless the buildings are carbon-conscious and the capitalism has a conscience.

​

She even served as an associate producer for the climate-solutions documentary Carbon Nation, because after decades as a clinician and administrator, she still found time to help save the planet recreationally.

​

Academically, she collected credentials the way some people collect passport stamps: undergraduate studies in Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University followed by a doctorate in Clinical and Developmental Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago but listing them all would be way too boring. Translation: she can analyze your childhood, your coping mechanisms, your investment strategy, and your carbon footprint before you finish introducing yourself.

​

Dr. Patricia Jones Blessman saw retirement on the calendar and treated it like a launch date. Now focused on Smoke and Mirrors, public-health education surrounding the emerging adult brain and cannabis youth awareness, Dr. Patricia Jones Blessman has entered her final form: part psychologist, part impact investor, part civic strategist, part environmental crusader and part elegant Chicago power networker in human form.

​

Some people retire quietly.

Dr. Patricia Jones Blessman apparently decided to become a one-woman interdisciplinary institution instead.