Christina J. Visco, retail whiz, marketing expert, political consultant, and cannabis entrepreneur, has died at 52

Christina J. Visco, 52, of Wyndmoor, a wide-ranging entrepreneur who excelled in or founded businesses in retail, distribution, marketing, politics, and cannabis, died Thursday, Oct. 19, of breast cancer while traveling in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua and Barbuda.

Known largely as the first woman to receive a medical marijuana license in Pennsylvania, Ms. Visco founded TerraVida Holistic Centers in 2017, opened the first of her several dispensaries in 2018, and was at one time the state’s dominant retailer of medical marijuana. She later acquired distribution permits in other states and sold the company in 2021 but remained as an executive with the new firm.

Committed to assisting cannabis users as well as selling to them, Ms. Visco opened education and registration centers near the dispensaries and established the VOWD Project — Victims of the War on Drugs — a nonprofit designed to “improve the lives of those victimized by cannabis prohibition.”

“Chris would not begin a project without finishing it,” her family said in a tribute. “She was a giver. She was beyond generous and would give support or help to anyone.”

In 2018, a former cannabis business colleague told The Inquirer: “There’s good reason why Chris has been so successful, and it’s not just her keen business sense. Chris really cares about her patients’ well-being, and it shows. You really can’t fake that kind of empathy.”

Ms. Visco launched her eclectic career in 1991 as a gift department manager at Boscov’s department store in Reading. Her energy and enthusiasm so impressed chief executive officer Albert Boscov that he nicknamed her Tenacity, promoted her to retail buyer, and invited her into the company’s executive training program.

“He taught me how to be an entrepreneur,” Ms. Visco told The Inquirer in 2018. “He showed me if you were driven and had ambition, you could and would succeed financially.”

She left Boscov’s to become a high-achieving buyer at David’s Bridal in 1998 and joined a partner at Performance Lighting in 2004 to supply parts for a lighting contract with the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2008, she founded PJs & Coffee, a social media marketing agency that promoted local restaurants, car dealers, and other small businesses.

In 2010, she created Social Politics, a political consulting firm that, among other projects, directed successful election campaigns for former Montgomery County Sheriff Eileen Behr in 2010 and State Rep. Chris Rabb in 2016. She also opened Buns Bakery in 2016.

“Chris understood from the beginning that the marijuana business is, aside from whatever else it might be, a business,” former State Sen. Daylin Leach told The Inquirer in 2018. “And as such the basic rules of business apply: Provide a good product at a reasonable price and market yourself aggressively.”

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Ms. Visco and her team spoke often about supporting local charities and initiatives in the communities in which they lived and worked. She lectured about the medical benefits of cannabis, especially after she fell ill in 2019, and was profiled in The Inquirer and other publications.

“She had a passion to make people’s lives easier,” her family said. “She never missed an opportunity to educate people on the benefits of medical marijuana.” Her daughter Molly said: “She was passionate about everything.”

Christina Joanna Durante was born March 9, 1971, in Norristown. Her grandmother started a plastics company in Trevose, and “she gave me little jobs as a kid in the back office,” Ms. Visco told The Inquirer in 2019.

She left Plymouth Whitemarsh High School before graduation and later earned her General Educational Development certificate. She studied psychology at Drexel University for a time and married William J. Visco in 1995. They had daughters Molly and Darby, and son Tanner, and divorced in 2018.

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Ms. Visco enjoyed gatherings and celebrations, and hosted memorable Kentucky Derby parties. She followed the Eagles and Phillies and, as an outspoken foodie, was not shy about blogging her opinions about what she liked best.

She was active with the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and won awards for her local philanthropy. “Chrissy was selfless,” said sister-in-law Andrea Laughlin. “She was giving and generous throughout her whole life. She had the biggest heart and was always a woman of her word.”

In addition to her children and former husband, Ms. Visco is survived by her mother, Jill Durante Bukata, a sister, and other relatives.

A celebration of her life is to be held from 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Marriott Philadelphia West, 111 Crawford Ave., West Conshohocken, Pa. 19428.

Donations in her name may be made to the VOWD Project, 7537 Central Ave., Skokie, Ill. 60077.