In Remembrance: Janifer Lynn Lighten ’83 Died on February 10 2012

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Janifer Lynn Funches Lighten ’83 passed away at home February 10, 2012, after a courageous battle with cancer. She was born in Stamford, Connecticut on November 30, 1961, and attended schools in Stamford and Waterbury before attending Yale.  At Yale Jan completed her degree in economics and political science in just three and a half years, and graduated with merit distinction.  She also met her life partner, William E. Lighten, while at Yale, and they were married soon after graduation. Jan earned an MBA in finance from Columbia University Business School, then embarked on a banking career in New York, continuing to work as they started a family.  

After the birth of their third child, Janifer became a full-time mother and the family moved to New Rochelle, where Jan actively pursued an array of community service efforts, including Grace Baptist Church, New Rochelle Boys & Girls Club, and Jack and Jill of Westchester. She also served the Yale Westchester Alumni Assocation and the Yale Tomorrow campaign, and was one of the organizers of the Yale Black Alumni Association, serving as its founding president and CEO. 

Janifer  leaves to cherish her memory and carry on her legacy: Bill, her husband of 26 years, and her children Adrienne, Alexis, Christopher and Michael; her parents Rosa and Arthur Funches of Fairfax, South Carolina; her brother, Arthur Jr., and sister-in-law, Wendi, and nephew, Enrique, of Mebane, North Carolina; her sister, Lynette, and brother-in-law, Darryl, and three nieces Dionne, Desiree, and Taylor of Waterbury, Connecticut; her mother-in-law Mary Seay of Memphis, Tennessee; sisters-in-law Marilyn Lee and Virginia Barker; niece, La Tasha Kelly, and nephew, Larry Lee Jr.; and a large host of extended family members and friends who will forever love and miss her.