Eilene Keller Bertsch
Eilene Keller Bertsch, educator, advocate, and beloved nana, passed away at age 82 on October 19, 2020 at her home in Fairfield CT. She was born in the Bronx, NY in 1937 to Violet and Joseph Keller, a banknote engraver, and is predeceased by her sister Susan Hecht.
Eilene, the first in her family to attend college, was a proud member of Marymount Manhattan College Class of 1959. At Marymount, she studied sociology under émigré professor Prince Nicholas Timasheff, who encouraged her to pursue her graduate work and one day return to teach his class. As she tells the story “so I did.” Following a fellowship at Exeter College, Oxford, she attended Fordham University where she received her MA in Sociology. Her first teaching position was at St Peter’s University in New Jersey, then an all- male institution, she, their first female professor, and as she recalled, quite the attraction. Eilene’s passion for the education of women returned her to her beloved Marymount Manhattan College where she would devote 25 years to educating, collaborating, and advocating for inclusion and equal opportunity in higher education. Professor, Director of Government Grants and Institutional Planning, and then VicePresident for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, she was the longest serving Chief Academic Officer of Marymount Manhattan College. It was with particular pride that in 2018 she returned to MMC to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the HEOP program, a program she helped establish supporting underrepresented and underserved students, to present the first annual Eilene Bertsch award to a graduating HEOP student.
Eilene’s second chapter as an educator and advocate brought her to Sacred Heart University in Fairfield CT in 1991. A lifelong New Yorker and subway rider, she needed to learn to drive at age 50, a daunting task as she would brake for airplanes overhead. As Assistant VicePresident for Academic Affairs, she was drawn to the University’s mission of service, and in 1992 was part of the first SHU delegation to El Salvador. That trip would become the foundation of continued outreach by the SHU community to the people of El Salvador, and as she often said, a turning point in her life. Returning from El Salvador, she looked to neighbors in Bridgeport, saw their need, and began collaboration on the SHU 30,000 Hours Service Project which grew to a 60,000 Hour Service Project. This was also the beginning of Eilene’s personal involvement with Mercy Learning Center, where serving on their board she worked on attaining their accreditation, and her involvement with The Thomas Merton Center, where she volunteered weekly greeting guests.
A woman of faith, compassion, and a strong advocate for the rights of the poor, she became an Associate of The Sisters of Charity of New York in 2008.
Eilene was a gifted singer who took great pleasure in gathering around the piano with her family. She was president of the MMC choral society, sang in a professional choir at St Raymond’s parish, and later sang with the St Pius X Church choir in Fairfield CT for as long as she could. She cherished her choral family and the beauty their music and friendship brought into her life. An adventurer, she loved to travel with her dear friend Sister Donna Dodge, President of the Sisters of Charity. Together they visited Europe’s great museums and cathedrals, rode the rails of Russia, drove the byways of North America, delivered mail to indigenous peoples in the Artic, and survived an earthquake in Alaska. She was always thrilled to share their library of photo journal albums chronicling their adventures with anyone who mentioned travel.
One of Eilene’s greatest joys was being nana to her three grandchildren. Every phone call with her daughter began with “How are the kids, what are they up to?” She was an avid fan of Quinnipiac University’s Women’s Soccer Team, the only fan allowed to wear her SHU jacket in the stands; she proudly encouraged and displayed her granddaughter’s art work; and always wanted to read anything written by her grandson and attend as many of his concerts as possible. She took great pride in watching them grow and carry on legacies of service, artistry and musicianship in their own right.
Eilene is survived by her daughter Karin, son- in- law Bret, her son William, her grandchildren Kathryn, Hallie and Eric, nephew Gerry Hecht and nephew- in- law Dennis Helmrich, and the dear friends, colleagues, and students whose lives Eilene touched.
A private funeral Mass was held at St Pius X Church, Fairfield CT on Wednesday October 21, 2020. Those wishing to honor Eilene, can donate in her name to Mercy Learning Center, Bridgeport CT, Merton House, Bridgeport CT or Marymount Manhattan College HEOP program NYC.