Sister Maureen Fay, OP 1934-2021

Literally and figuratively tall in stature and standing, Sister Maureen opened many doors and broke many glass ceilings in American Catholic higher education for women, religious and laypersons because of her contributions at St. Xavier University, Mercy College of and University of Detroit Mercy. Thirty-one years after the bold collaboration of her and Fr. Robert Mitchell, S.J. to make Mercy College of Detroit and University of Detroit a strong Catholic institution, she leaves a legacy that will benefit tens of thousands of future leaders in , the United States and the world for decades. — Dr. Antoine Garibaldi, President, University of Detroit Mercy

In his tribute to Sister Maureen Fay, one of his predecessors, after her passing, Dr. Garibaldi was honoring the Adrian Dominican Sister who had helped direct the consolidation of Mercy College and the University of Detroit and served for twenty-one years in the institutions’ presidency.

Sister Maureen was born May 18, 1934, in to Michael and Anne (Whalen) Fay. Michael was an Irish immigrant from County Roscommon who had come to America at the age of eighteen, while Anne was a Chicago native but was the daughter of an immigrant from Galway, Ireland. According to a biographical sketch of herself that Sister Maureen wrote for an Irish publication in Detroit, family lore had it that Michael had left Ireland one step ahead of the British, who were hunting him for his involvement with the Irish Republican Army. Sister Maureen said in her 2016 “A Sister’s Story” video that when her father got to Ellis Island, he wrote down his name in such shaky handwriting that the immigration official could not read it – and so the family name, Fahey, became Fay.

Michael served as a U.S. Navy Seabee during World War II and later became an architect at one of Chicago’s premier firms, while Anne worked for AT&T. The couple had two children, Maureen and Timothy.

Maureen went to public school until age nine when, she wrote, she came home one day and proudly announced to her father that she had “beat up on” the Catholics, meaning those who attended St. Nicholas of Tolentine School near her own elementary school. Michael informed her that she was one of those Catholics, and the next thing she knew, Maureen found herself enrolled at St Nicholas.

There, she was educated by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, who made a deep impression on her. When it came time for high school, Michael insisted she attend Visitation, which was operated by the Sinsinawa (Wisconsin) Dominican Sisters, and although she enjoyed her experience with them she could not forget the Adrian Dominicans of her earlier school years.

Drawn to their joyous spirits, she told her father she wanted to become one of them, and although he was not excited about her decision – “I think he believed that I was too headstrong to endure,” she wrote – she entered the Congregation in June 1952, right after graduation. She became a novice that December, receiving the habit and her religious name, Sister Marie Timothy.

After her canonical novitiate year, she was assigned to teach at Precious Blood School in Detroit and spent January 1954 through June 1958 there. Then came assignments to St. Mary School in St. Clair, Michigan (1958-1961); St. Paul High School, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan (1961-1965); and Dominican High School, Detroit (1965-December 1968). During these years, she earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Siena Heights College (University) in 1960 and her master’s degree, also in English, from the University of Detroit in 1966.

In December 1968, she returned to Adrian to teach at Siena Heights and work in campus ministry with the Newman Center at Adrian College. She was in both those ministries until taking a leave of absence from the Congregation from 1970 to 1973.

When she returned, she began doctoral studies at the University of Chicago, completing her Ph.D. in education in 1976. The last part of her time as a student involved interning in the president’s office at St. Xavier College (University), an experience which cemented her desire to work in higher education administration. She went on to serve at St. Xavier for seven years, three as Dean of Continuing Education and four as Dean of Graduate Studies.

A surprising letter one day from Mercy College, asking her to consider applying to be the college’s president, led her into that role and her resulting twenty-one-year tenure as president first of Mercy College and then of the combined institution, the University of Detroit Mercy. Mercy College was operated by the Religious Sisters of Mercy and the University of Detroit was a Jesuit institution, and Sister Maureen was not only the first Mercy president who was not a Mercy Sister but also the first non-Jesuit (and therefore the first woman as well) in America to lead a Jesuit college or university.

Sister Maureen earned a reputation as a top-notch fundraiser, a skilled strategic planner, and much more. During her time at both institutions, she served on multiple educational and civic boards and received numerous honors including, in 2007, the Father Hesburgh Award, the highest honor given by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities for outstanding contributions to Catholic higher education. She was also named one of Detroit’s 100 most powerful women by Crain’s Detroit Business in both 1997 and 2002.

Sister Maureen retired from UD Mercy in 2004, but did not leave higher education behind. Beginning in 2005, she served for eight years as Director for Leadership Development for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

She returned to Adrian in 2016 to reside at the Dominican Life Center, and died there on May 27, 2021, aged eighty-seven and in her sixty-eighth year as an Adrian Dominican Sister.

Sister Fran Nadolny, Sister Maureen’s longtime friend and housemate, was one of the many family and friends, in addition to Dr. Garibaldi, who contributed their memories at Sister’s wake service:

Forty-four years ago in March 1977, I went to Maureen Fay’s office at St. Xavier College (University) and asked if I could live with her for the summer. She had recently joined my cluster group – mission group – and I figured living with her while I went to summer school would be a good solution to my not having a car. I could walk from her apartment to the college – no muss, no fuss. My superior even offered $100 for my room and board! It took Maureen three months to give an answer. It didn’t even take that long for her to decide to be president! But, in the end, all was fine.

Our Adrian Dominican Constitution states that “being together in community is an expression of mission” and as a community we share faith and life. How true that is as Maureen and I shared the ups and downs of life: family and friends’ deaths, births, divorces, marriages, new babies, joys, tragedies and reconciliations. We faced each new day with a sense that it was a new day and we would be a ready support to each other at the end of it. I believe that it was our life in community which enabled Maureen to give energy and life to her mission and vision for education. We kept one another real and in touch with the humanness of people.

Gail Burnett, Sister Maureen’s administrative assistant at the university, wrote:

I was a non-traditional student at the University of Detroit Mercy when I first saw Sister Maureen in action. She was about to address the student body on some important administrative changes. She entered the auditorium, walked across the stage – trailed by a group of men in suits. I liked that. She was eloquent, and at one point, came from behind the podium and engaged us intimately. When her presentation was over, I said to myself, “I’d like to work for this woman!” A year later I graduated, she hired me as her administrative assistant, and we were together for 10 fabulous years.

Sister Catherine DeClercq wrote the homily for Sister Maureen’s funeral.

… Today we are laying to rest a true giant educator who transformed the lives of many by generously investing her gifts in higher education. … Maureen is especially remembered for her careful discernment in helping to take the significant step in the consolidation of Mercy College in Detroit and the University of Detroit, a Jesuit University. What really mattered at that time was her openness, and courage to face risk, her sensitivity to the educational heritage of the Sisters of Mercy in Detroit and the Jesuits. Such courage is an authentic form taken by love.

We focus today on Maureen’s gifts, not only as a leader in the field of education but as a committed Adrian Dominican Sister and friend. In addition to her wonderful smile and Irish wit, Maureen was generous in countless ways and shared her keen intellectual gifts through her love of literature, poetry, beautiful art works, music, the teaching of English, her creative thinking in numerous presentations and truly just being a servant of learning. She knew the wisdom of deep listening, how to use appropriate and wholesome words, how to be hospitable to criticism and letting friends mirror her blind spots. She could be stern, but always respectful, and was able to distinguish between what is personal and what is not. Her stature and engaging presence could be intimidating, but a lightheartedness and respectful dignity always held.

… Friendship is one of the terms God uses to describe the relationship God desires with us. Maureen’s ear has been pressed to God’s heart the last few years – to the breast of all that is good, true, and beautiful. She has heard God’s heartbeat at a level beyond thought and words, but was gently caressed through the gift of this amazing friendship. Rest in peace, Maureen.

Center First Holy Communion. Right: Sister Maureen at her graduation from Visitation High School in Chicago.

Left: Sister Maureen Fay with her mother on her first home visit, 1955.

Left: Sister Maureen and Bishop John Quinn attend an event at Dominican High School, Detroit. Right: Attending a Dominican High School, Detroit, event are, from left, Sisters Frances Nadolny, Carolyn Nelson, Maureen Fay, and Tarianne DeYonker.

Left: Sister Maureen Fay presents a Master’s in Economics to Sister Marie Michael at the University of Detroit Mercy. Right: Sisters Frances Nadolny, left, and Maureen Fay

Right: Members of the 2002 Golden Jubilee Crowd are: back row, from left, Sisters Janet Kubiak, Reta Drexler, Maureen Fay, Carolyn Nelson, Ursula Ording, Frances Madigan, Marguerite Renuart, Arlene Marie Kosmatka, and Dorothy Booms; middle row, from left, Sisters Lorraine Sinn, Joann Weigang, Lorraine Pepin, Patricia Caulfield, Margaret Foley, Maria Riley, and Maureen Keeler; and front row, from left, Sisters Cora Marie Campbell, Ann Kelly, Anne Cenci, Lois Mary Rochon, Margaret Richard Pillon, Magdalena Ezoe, and Kathryn Hartnett.