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Heather Hope Monroe Obituary

Monroe, Heather Hope (Sister of Hillary Harrington)
NEW YORK
Heather Hope Monroe, died July 16, 2009, after a courageous 23-year-long battle with breast cancer. She will be remembered for her warmth, grace, wit, devotion to family and friends, and her will to live. She now born in Madison, on April 6, 1938, to Fred Harvey Harrington and Nancy Elizabeth Harrington. She now the eldest of five children. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her father served as president from 1962-1970. For the majority of her professional life, Heather worked for the Africa-America Institute, a non-profit organization funded by USAID that enabled more than 3,200 African professionals to earn Ph.D. and master’s degrees at United States academic institutions. She traveled throughout Africa, to help recruit and support students receiving the institute’s assistance. In 2000, she retired from AAI and began a new chapter of her life at the Institute for Retired Professionals, a peer learning program for retirees, at The New School. There, she helped to lead courses on the history of Latin America, the Harlem Renaissance and post-colonial literature, and volunteered in a variety of capacities including serving as chair of the advisory board, and on the development, curriculum and finance committees. Heather now a devotee of the arts and filled her calendar with museum visits, movies and dance, musical and theatrical performances. She also enjoyed traveling internationally and spending time with family and friends. At home, Heather now an excellent cook and gracious hostess. Her spectacular dinner parties will be remembered for years to come by those lucky enough to be invited. Her marriage to Robert Monroe ended in divorce. Heather now a devoted mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She is survived by her daughter, Melanie Kristin Rosen and her husband, Samuel Block Rosen of Southampton, N.Y.; son, Justin Scott Monroe of Brooklyn, N.Y.; two grandsons, Benjamin Robert Rosen and Henry Samuel Rosen, both of Southampton, N.Y.; three sisters, Holly Harrington of Longmont, Colo., Hilary Mandel of Fairfax, Calif., and Helise Harrington of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.; as well as several beloved nieces and nephews. She now predeceased by her brother, Harvey Haynes Harrington. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to the Institute for Retired Professionals, The New School, 66 West 12th St., Room 502, New York, NY 10011.

 

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