Julia Cortese

Julia Judy Fitzsimmons Cortese, who was born on March 2, 1922 in Reading, Pennsylvania, the second of three daughters of Fredrick H. and L. Elizabeth Dechant, died on February 15, 2010. She was well known in the Greater Cleveland community as a creative, inspirational, popular, and honored science teacher at Hathaway Brown School, where she was head of the science department, and at University School. During seventeen years at Hathaway Brown School she taught a generation of young women not only the sciences, especially biology, but also, as she did with her daughters, she taught them to assume responsibilities and to become self-reliant and confident. She inspired many young women to appreciate science studies and some of them to go on to careers in the sciences and medicine. At speeches she gave, she famously was accompanied by a well preserved brain in a large glass jar which she used, humorously but pointedly, to note the unfortunate disparity between the capacity of and the utilization of the human brain. After her retirement from Hathaway Brown School, the then head master of University School invited and challenged her to develop and nurture a program in the sciences for inclusion in the lower school curriculum, and to establish a complementary laboratory. She did so, and spent eleven years in the teaching of young boys. Having taught only senior girls for so long, she was surprised to find that she took as much pleasure guiding young boys, especially as their eyes lit up with each discovery of the secrets of nature. While at Hathaway Brown, she was an appreciated, unofficial mentor to younger members of the faculty and staff. As Patricia Penny Sarvis recently wrote, Òfor any of us who were young teachersÉ, she was a mentor, model, and friendÉfull of energy, willing to experiment, solidly grounded in her subject matter, full of fun and play and passion. It was a thrill and a compliment to be teaching in the same school as Judy Cortese. Later, University School had the good fortune to lure her to ignite the science program at the lower school.Ó There, part of her task was to help the grammar school faculty learn to teach the sciences at that grade level. Ms. Sarvis, who also taught at University School, further asked the family to convey to Mrs. Cortese Òhow much she has meant to so many of us who were seeking to be really fine teachers, and who had her as a role model, just down the hall, to draw inspiration from.Ó As Holly Boyer Scott has written, ÒShe gave and gave - and gave, and kept us all moving with her, whether it was decorating Christmas cookies, doing those incredible Ukrainian Easter eggs, following her nature hikes in the Bahamas, catching her enthusiastic wonder at the world around us- and under the microscope in biology class, and guiding all from those great command posts, her kitchens on Braemar and Shaker Blvd. So many indelible memories as we talked and she always listened, where we all felt safe, welcomed, and loved. Her booming voice reached us, warmed us and comforted us.Ó In 1974 she received the Distinguished Teacher award from ISACS Independent Schools Association of the Central States. In 1983 the Judy Cortese Science Chair was endowed at Hathaway Brown School in her honor. The new science wing at Andrews School, Willoughby, OH, was named after her. Among the honors that most pleased her, were the selections by two senior classes at Hathaway Brown as their advisor and the dedications of their year books to her accompanied by two pages of pictures of her in action. The dedications, in part, included warm testimonials such as ÒYou transfer your enthusiasm for science to all your studentsÉ with your radiant smile and effervescent laughter, you have made the school more cheerful for all of us.Ó Also ÒYou can tell she is a good friend to us allÉloving kindness is present in every cell.Ó A graduate of Lake Erie College, where she majored in the sciences, she began her career by participating in pioneering biomedical research at the laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute in New York City and later at Harvard Medical SchoolÕs affiliate, McLean Hospital. Years later, she earned a Masters Degree in Education at Case Western Reserve University after her first husband, Samuel S. Fitzsimmons, a lawyer at Baker and Hostler, died in 1959. She first taught at Monticello Junior High School in Cleveland Heights. In 1964 she married Joseph R. Cortese, who survives her and is a retired partner of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. She is survived also by her four children, Samuel D. Fitzsimmons Mary Owen of Baltimore, MD, Elizabeth F. Barclay David of Annapolis, MD, Carol F. Sargent L. Manlius of Westwood, MA, and Sarah H. Fitzsimmons Richard E. Schoenberger of Los Angeles, CA, and seven grandchildren, Devin and Colin Barclay, Rebecca, Annie and Luke Sargent, Johanna Fitzsimmons, and Samantha Fitzsimmons Schoenberger. She is also survived by her sister, Dorothy Bartlett Hughes of Las Vegas, NV, six nephews and a sister-in-law Mary Louise Wilson Paul of San Jose, CA. The younger sister of Mrs. Cortese, Margaret Cozens Smith of New Jersey, predeceased her. Mrs. Cortese was for many years a Sunday school teacher and a member of the Altar Guild at St. PaulÕs Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights. She was a former president of the Board of Trustees of the Andrews School. She was a founder and a Board Member of the Global Issues Resource Center of Cuyahoga Community College, a docent at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and an educator at the Cleveland Health Museum. Please join the family in a funeral service to honor her life to be held on Saturday, February Twentieth, at 2 p.m. at St. PaulÕs Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmont Blvd, Cleveland Heights, OH. A reception at the church will follow the service. In lieu of flowers, those who so desire may make contributions in her name to Global Issues Resource Center, East 1, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, OH 44112 or Hathaway Brown School, Attn: Erin Gisel, 19600 N. Park Blvd., Shaker Hts., 44122. Julia "Judy" Fitzsimmons Cortese, beloved wife of Joseph R. Cortese of Chagrin Falls, OH and the late Samuel B. Fitzsimmons. Dear mother of Samuel D. Fitzsimmons Mary Owen of Baltimore, MD., Elizabeth F. Barclay David of Annapolis, MD, Carol F. Sargent L. Manlius of Westwood, MA and Sarah H. Fitzsimmons Richard E. Schoenbergerof Los Angeles, CA. Dear grandmother of Devin and Colin Barclay; Rebecca, Annie and Luke Sargent; Johanna Fitzsimmons and Samantha Fitzsimmons Schoenberger. Also survived by her sister Dorothy Bartlett Hughes of Los Vegas, NV, 6 nephews and a sister-in-law, Mary Louise Wilson Paul of San Jose, CA. The younger sister of Mrs. Cortese, Margaret Cozzens Smith of NJ predeceased her. The family prefers that those who wish may make contributions in her name to Global Issues Resource Center, East 1, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, OH, 44122 or Hathaway Brown School, Attn: Erin Gisel, 19600 N. Park Blvd., Shaker Hts., OH. 44122. Memorial services will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Saturday, February 20 at 2 pm.


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