Sister Marie Jean Dempsey, O.P.,

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Sister Marie Jean Dempsey, O.P., who served as president of the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill for eight years, died March 6 in Dominican Convent Siena Hall in Sparkill. She was 99.

Sister Marie Jean was president of the Sparkill Dominicans, 1972-1980.

She served as professor of English, professor of humanities and academic dean at St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, 1980-1998 and 1963-1972, and received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the college.

Sister Marie Jean taught at Albertus Magnus High School, Bardonia, 1960-1963; Aquinas High School, the Bronx, 1950-1960; Sacred Heart School, Suffern, 1949-1950; Cardinal McCloskey, White Plains, 1946-1948; St. Helena, the Bronx, 1941-1946; St. Rita, the Bronx, 1941; and St. Agnes Home and School, Sparkill, 1940-1941.

She also served in Queens.

Born in Brooklyn, she entered the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill in 1938 and professed final vows in 1945.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Manhattan College, the Bronx; a master’s in English from St. John’s University, Queens; and a doctorate in English from Columbia University, Manhattan.

A Funeral Mass was celebrated March 13 in Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel, Sparkill. Burial was in St. Agnes Cemetery, Sparkill.

Sister Marie Jean Dempsey, O.P.,