Margaret Nelson; Norwalk’s First Woman Mayor

Margaret I. (Peg) Nelson, the first woman elected to the Norwalk City Council who also was that city’s first woman mayor, died Wednesday of complications after a heart attack. She was 64.

Mrs. Nelson, who used a wheelchair after suffering a stroke in 1984, had just recently returned home after being hospitalized for injuries suffered in a Jan. 27 auto accident, said Norwalk spokeswoman Heather Morris.

She was taken Wednesday morning from her Norwalk home to Coast Plaza Medical Center, where doctors pronounced her dead.

Mrs. Nelson was a member of the City Council from 1976 to 1988 and served each of her four-year terms with the honorary title of mayor. She opted not to seek reelection last year.

It was her volunteer work with several groups and organizations, including the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, that she said led to her seeking office.

In lieu of cards or flowers, her family asked for donations to the Norwalk All-City Youth Band.

There will be no funeral services.

She is survived by her husband Lee, 65; three children, and five grandchildren.