Cynthia Green ‘Cindy’ Warren
Retired Maryland Office of People’s Counsel attorney remembered by friends as ‘loving, kind and brilliant’
Cynthia Green “Cindy” Warren, a retired Baltimore attorney who served in the Office of People’s Counsel, died of cancer April 15 at her New York City home. The former Randallstown resident was 61.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Ashburton, she was the daughter of Sampson Green Jr., a social worker and community activist, and his wife, Lorraine Thomas, a teacher in Baltimore City schools. She was a 1975 graduate of Roland Park Country School, where she served as editor on the school paper and was elected to the Cum Laude Society.
As a teenager, she worked as an assistant for Baltimore City Council member Norman Reeves and graduated from the Baltimore City chapter of Jack and Jill of America. She was confirmed at Trinity Presbyterian Church in the Walbrook neighborhood. In more recent years she attended Mount Pleasant A.M.E. Church in Reisterstown.
Ms. Green Warren left Baltimore for New Haven, Connecticut, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1979 from Yale University and graduated magna cum laude with a major in East Asian studies. Fluent in Mandarin, she spent her junior overseas in Taipei, Taiwan, where she worked as an English language tutor and lived with a local family.
After graduation, she received the Corning Fellowship, a grant that allowed her to study and travel extensively throughout Asia and Africa.
“My sister was always a curious person. She was direct and straightforward,” said Lisa Green Hall, her sister, who lives in Silver Spring. “She was the kind of person who would tell you the absolute truth.”
She married Nathaniel Warren at Trinity Baptist Church in 1983. They divorced after more than 15 years of marriage.
She was a 1984 graduate of Harvard University School of Law and was admitted to the Maryland Bar the same year.
During law school she worked summers at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C., and for a short period at Cox Communications.
She returned permanently to Baltimore and served as a law clerk for Judge Kenneth Johnson in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. She began her formal legal career as a tax attorney with Alexander and Alexander, the insurance brokerage firm. She worked from its Towson offices from 1985 to 1987.
Ms. Green Warren then joined the
Maryland Office of People’s Counsel’s utility consumer advocacy office in downtown Baltimore. She was an assistant people’s counsel for 25 years until her retirement in 2013.
After her retirement, she attended classes and earned a second bachelor’s degree at the University of Baltimore in the Real Estate and Economic Development Program.
“She had a goal of launching a second career in community planning and real estate investing,” said her sister, Lisa.
She also participated in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at the University of Baltimore.
“She had a love of writing and hoped to publish a novel one day,” her sister also said.
Family members said Ms. Green Warren was devoted to her daughter, who also was a graduate of Yale.
“My mom was an extremely loving person who put the needs of others above her own,” said her daughter, Alice Warren, a resident of Harrison, New Jersey. “She always did her best to take care of me and remind me how much she cared. She was my true confidante and gave me much wisdom.“
“Cindy will be remembered by her lifelong friends as a loving, kind and brilliant,” said Dorothy Bonett, a Mount Airy resident who was a college roommate.
Ms. Green Warren was a lifelong fan of movies and the “Star Trek” series. She also liked the 2017 crime film “Molly’s Game.” She enjoyed watching films in theaters on a large screen, her family said.
Her family said she also enjoyed returning to school at the University of Baltimore and was actively involved in programs on campus. Ms. Green Warren remained a lifelong learner and kept up with art history and enjoyed visiting museums in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Ms. Warren lived for many years in Randallstown and recently moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City to receive medical care and be closer to her daughter.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the family will hold a small, private graveside service. Plans for a memorial are incomplete.
A memorial fund has been created in her name at the University of Baltimore’s REED Program.
In addition to her sister and daughter, survivors include her mother, Lorraine Green of Owings Mills, and a niece, Leah Hall of Silver Spring.