Obituary: Marie Schwartz

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Marie D. Schwartz, journalist, author and philanthropist, died on March 15 at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, at the age of 97.

She was the daughter of the late David Paul Smith and Dessie Marr Smith and a sister of the late Nellie Jane Smith Macdonald, Annie Pauline Smith, Ruth Smith Kerstein and David Porter Smith. She is survived by her niece, Sylvia Kerstein Kossel, and stepdaughter, Constance Schwartz Harris.

A native of Atlanta, Ga., Marie attended schools there and a branch of the University of Georgia system in Atlanta (now Georgia State University). She holds an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the Long Island University College of Pharmacy.

As a journalist, Marie was a staff writer for the Washington Post from 1954 until 1970, during which years she covered the White House during the administration of four Presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon.

She won many awards for her writings. She was chosen “best woman writer’ in Washington by the Sons and Daughters Foundation. She won the top Catherine L. O’Brien award for excellence in women’s news reporting in a competition with 1,000 other reporters throughout the country. She was cited by the National League of American Pen Women for outstanding achievement in non-fiction writing. She served as President of the American Newspaper Women’s Club.

As an author, Marie wrote a number of books, including: “Entertaining in the White House,” which grew out of her experiences covering the White House; “The President’s Lady: An Intimate Biography of Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson;” and “White House Brides,” a history of romances and marriages in the White House involving its occupants. She also authored one book of poetry, “My Heart Looks Up.”

In 1970, she met and married New York City oil company executive, Arnold Schwartz, and left Washington and the newspaper world behind. In New York, she embarked upon a new career in philanthropy, sharing her husband’s interest in health care and health education. Together, they made a significant impact in the fields of health and education in the Greater Metropolitan area and beyond.

They made naming gifts to New York University, including the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Health Care Center and the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Lecture Hall (now part of NYU Langone Medical Center) as well as the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Hall of Dental Sciences at the New York University College of Dentistry. They endowed a Dr. Howard Rusk Chair in Rehabilitative Medicine at the Rusk Institute. Additional NYU facilities that benefitted from Marie and Arnold Schwartz’ largesse were: The Arnold Schwartz Memorial Scholarship at the Dental Center; The “Marnold” Fellows Program at the Graduate School of Public Administration; The Arnold Schwartz Memorial Workshops at the Tisch School of the Arts; and The Marie Schwartz Scholarship at the NYU College of Nursing.

Arnold Schwartz died in 1979, but Marie continued to support the institutions they both believed in, including: The Arnold and Marie Schwartz International Hall for Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; The Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Long Island University; The Arnold and Marie Schwartz Hall of Humanities and the Salena Library Learning Center at LIU (named for Mr. Schwartz’ parents); The Arnold and Marie Schwartz Athletic Center; the Dessie Marr Smith Chapel (named for Marie’s mother) and the Arnold and Marie Schwartz International Drug Information Center at LIU.

Marie continued to support the expansion of the Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn, whose library is named after her (the Marie Smith Schwartz Medical Library). Also, in Brooklyn, she continued to support the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Police Athletic League Center.

In Manhattan, Marie supported the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Atrium and the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met, both at the Metropolitan Opera.

In Florida, Marie supported the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Kidney Dialysis Center at St. Mary’s Hospital and the Norton Gallery of Art, both in West Palm Beach.

In Texas, she supported the San Antonio Museum and, in memory of her friend, Lady Bird Johnson, the Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

In Washington, she endowed a week of concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center (the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Concerts).

Marie spent most of her time in her later years in Greenwich, where she made naming gifts to the Bruce Museum and served at one time as President of the Pen Women’s Association, Greenwich Chapter.

Marie’s philanthropy extended beyond just making endowments. She was also an active participant in a variety of nonprofit institutions. She was a former Trustee of New York University, an overseer of the Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at LIU, an emeritus member of the Board of Overseers of Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center, a member of the Metropolitan Opera Association, a member of the Board of the Police Athletic League of New York City, a member of the Board of the Norton Gallery of Art in West Palm Beach, a life member of the Advisory Committee of St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach, a former member of the Board of the Bruce Museum Association in Greenwich, Connecticut, a national Trustee of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., a member of the Board and Executive Committee of the National Wildflower Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and, by appointment of New York Governor Cuomo, served on the Governor’s Commission on the Voluntary Sector.

Marie was especially generous to the Church of the Transfiguration, a national landmark also known as “The Little Church Around the Corner,” to which she donated funds to restore its building and commission the Arnold Schwartz Memorial Organ, in addition to funding a concert series in memory of her late husband.

A memorial service will be held at the Church of the Transfiguration in April. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas, and to the New York Botanical Garden in Bronx, N.Y.

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