Mahoney

Sister Colette Mahoney, R.S.H.M.

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Sister Colette Mahoney, R.S.H.M., who served for 21 years as president of Marymount Manhattan College, died June 14 at Marymount Convent in Tarrytown. She was 86.

She was president of Marymount Manhattan from 1967 to 1988, during which time the student body tripled in size and the campus grew substantially. She promoted the education of adult women and minorities and oversaw the creation of the Weekend College and other programs for non-traditional students, the growth of the performing arts program and the opening of the Marymount Manhattan Theatre.

She also oversaw the construction of new buildings and more modern facilities, financed by the selling of air rights above the existing building, a new concept at the time.

She began her ministry in education at the Academy of the Sacred Heart of Mary in Manhattan, 1947-1957, later serving there as superior, 1965-1967. She also taught at Marymount College, Tarrytown, 1961-1965, and Marymount University, Arlington, Va., 1957-1960.

She was president of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools; director of the American Association of Higher Education; and chair of the board of trustees for the College of Boca Raton in Florida. She also served as interim president of Presentation College, Aberdeen, S.D., and St. Francis Xavier, Chicago.

She was a member of the President’s Advisory Council on the Economic Role of Women, the New York City Partnership Task Force on Youth Unemployment, and the Commission on the Status of Women for the Mayor of New York.

She was the recipient of five honorary degrees and many other awards, including the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Award for her exceptional contribution to Catholic education. She was cited as “An Extraordinary Woman of Achievement” by the National Conference of Christians and Jews Committee on Women’s Concerns.

Born in Jamaica, Queens, she entered the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary in 1945 and professed final vows in 1952. She held a bachelor’s degree in Latin from Marymount College, Tarrytown, and a master’s and doctorate in biology from Fordham University.

A Funeral Mass was offered June 19 at Marymount Convent in Tarrytown. Burial was in Mount Calvary Cemetery, White Plains.

Sister Colette Mahoney, R.S.H.M.