RPCV Mary Stephano (Ethiopia) Passed Away

Mary W. Stephano (Ethiopia 1962-64)

Mary Winslow Stephano, of Oswego, N.Y. passed away Friday evening February 18, 2022 at her home. She was 86.

She was born in Oswego, a daughter of the late Charles and Frances O’Connor Stephano.

Mary Winslow was a 1958 graduate of Le Moyne College with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities. She joined the second class of the Peace Corps in 1962, and was stationed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She earned a Ph.D. in Economics, Public Administration and Planning from Syracuse University in 1970.

Over her 30+ year career she served with aid agencies such as the United Nations, USAID, and the Near East Foundation, providing expertise in the planning, design, management, and evaluation of Ministry-level human resources and economic development programs. While in public service, she travelled to every continent except Antarctica and spent years living in Paris, Botswana, Malawi, Iran, and Papua New Guinea.

While advising the Directorate of Personnel under the Office of the President of the Republic of Botswana, she created and led a unit responsible for all public human resource needs and, as an early adopter of technology, introduced the first personal computer to the Directorate. Dr. Stephano also had extensive academic experience including leadership positions in the International Studies Department at SUNY Buffalo and four years at the University of Southern California’s new Washington Public Affairs Center where she served as the Director of International Fellows Program and an Assistant Professor lecturing on policy analysis, development issues, manpower planning, and apartheid in developing countries.

Mary Winslow is survived by one sister, Barbara Ann Negus of Austin, Texas, and was a beloved aunt to nine nieces and nephews – Cathy, Tom, Margaret, Mary, Laura, Charles, Kristin, Leslie and Karen, and 18 great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by a sister, Margaret Louise Lang, a brother, Charles Van Stephano, and a great nephew, Robert Joseph Kennedy.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated in 1PM on Friday April 22, 2022 at Christ the Good Shepherd Church followed by burial in St. Peter’s Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to The Maxwell School of Syracuse University and The Christ the Good Shepherd at Saint Paul Oswego.

Arrangements by the Dain-Cullinan Funeral Home.