Ossining, N.Y., May 11, 2026 ── Sister Mary Vertucci, M.M., a Maryknoll Sister of 62 years who empowered countless women as a mentor and visionary leader, died on April 30, 2026. She was 80.

Sr. Mary was born Aug. 28, 1945, in New Brunswick, N.J., to Micale and Adelaide Zarski Vertucci. She was the eldest of five children, and is survived by three sisters — Christina, Cecelia (Dee) and Michele — and her brother, John.

Sr. Mary graduated from St. Peter’s High School in New Brunswick, N.J., and entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation novitiate in Topsfield, Mass., on Sept. 2, 1964. She made her first vows on June 24, 1967, at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York, and final vows in Morogoro, Tanzania, on July 22, 1972. Sr. Mary earned an Associate of Arts degree from Mary Rogers College in 1968, and a B.A. in Chemistry from the College of St. Elizabeth. In 1982, she completed a certificate in Clinical Pastoral Education from Central Islip Psychiatric Hospital in Islip, N.Y.

In 1970, Sr. Mary was assigned to East Africa’s Tanzania, where she taught science courses to young women at the Korogwe Girls Secondary School, the Sekei Secondary School (formerly the Arusha Diocesan Youth Center) and the Murigha Girls School in Singida.

After teaching for many years, Sr. Mary spearheaded the development and opening of the Emusoi Center in Arusha, Tanzania, in 1999. There, girls and women of pastoralist and hunter-gatherer communities found a safe and supportive home of hope, where they were able to access information and discover their own worth through education. By 2025, more than 2,000 women passed through secondary school, vocational school and college or a university.

Grace Scorey, who completed the Emusoi Center’s program with the class of 2000, said that Sr. Mary “built leaders, champions and change-makers,” and that, “her legacy lives on in every girl she empowered and every woman who now stands strong in her community.”

Sr. Mary also accompanied many women as they discerned a call to the Maryknoll Sisters through her work with the Tanzania Vocation team, and as Director of the Congregational Admissions Team from 1982 until 1986. She also served as regional treasurer for sisters in Tanzania for the Dominican Sisters of Africa.

A wake for Sr. Mary was held on May 7, 2026, in the Annunciation Chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y. A Mass of Christian Burial was said on May 8, 2026, also in the Annunciation Chapel.