Mary Staples of Old Greenwich, Connecticut and Jesup, Iowa passed away peacefully surrounded by her family from heart failure on April 20 after a long fight for 3 years. She leaves behind her husband David Webber, her daughters Tracy Neeson and Kimberly Purcell Wright, her stepson Alan Webber, brother Gerald Shatzer and seven grandchildren.
Mary was born to Orval and Lucille Shatzer and grew up in Jesup, Iowa. She joined IBM in Cedar Rapids in 1961 and in 1964, she became one of ten women in the US responsible for teaching the use of the first word processors to clients. In 1969, she was moved to IBM Data Processing in White Plains and settled in Greenwich. She and David founded a company in 1973 that became the premier provider of computer services to the business side of magazines. The company grew to over 100 employees and counted over 600 magazines as clients in nine countries. The 3M Corporation acquired the company in 1983 and Mary became the first woman to reach the rank of General Manager in 3M history.
When she retired from 3M, she put her salesmanship skills to work focusing on local non-profit fundraising. In 1987, she became President of the Board of the Bruce Museum and within two years raised $7 million to build the Museum structure that exists today. She also founded the annual Renaissance Ball, the first such event in Greenwich that provided the funds that began the transformation of the somewhat sleepy Museum into the premier social non-profit it has become today. Mary knew how to throw a party, demonstrated by how widely the Ball was copied by other non-profits. She remained on the Board until 1991, when she received the Bruce Museum Director’s Award for her leadership.
When her term as President of the Bruce was over, the Norwalk Community College asked Mary to provide the same fundraising leadership for their Educational Scholarship Fund. She certainly did that, encouraging donors from Greenwich to donate toward education for those in need. She founded the Le Bal d’Ecole, which over the years raised so many millions of dollars for scholarships that the college conferred on her an Honorary degree and the Dedicated Service Award.
A resident of Old Greenwich for over 50 years, Mary served on several Boards during that time. She served as a member of the Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission from 1986 to 1989. She served on the Board of the Adult Day Care Center, the Greenwich Parks Preservation Commission, and Connections, a network of Greenwich women.
In Jesup, Mary donated a large stained-glass window to the Lutheran Church in memory of her parents Orval and Lucille Shatzer. The children depicted in the window are of her beloved grandchildren.
Growing up on the family farm in Iowa, Mary always had a love of animals, helping any in need when she could, but her deep love over the years were her Cavalier King Charles Spaniels who were always with her. Two of them appeared with her on the cover of The Nutmegger magazine.
Services will be private.
