Obiturary: Sister Grace Anne Troisi, S.C.
Sister Grace Anne Troisi, S. C.
1926 – 2020
The Roothbert Fund, Inc. notes with deep sorrow the passing of Sister Grace Anne Troisi on June 17, 2020. She was 93 years old. Sister Grace served as a member of the board of directors from 1987 to 2011 and made numerous contributions to the work of the Fund over her life.
Born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1926, she was one of five children of James and Alfonsina Troisi. She received her early education in the parochial schools of the Archdiocese of New York and entered the Sisters of Charity religious order in 1944. In 1956, she graduated from the College of Mt. St. Vincent with a B. A. in English, and in 1963 earned an M. A. from Fordham University. She taught for a number of years in elementary schools, and for five years chaired the English department at St. Barnabas High School in the Bronx.
In 1971, Sister Grace received the first of several grants from the Roothbert Fund. During her time on grant she earned both M. Ed. and Ed. D. degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University. The title of her dissertation was Management by Objectives in a School System.
For much of her professional life her ministry focused on community relations, staff development in the non-profit sector, improving management in eleemosynary institutions, and developing leadership skills, especially among the poor. Among the institutions where she taught were the College of Mt. St. Vincent, Fordham University and City College. She also led workshops at the New York Theological Seminary, Vera Institute of Justice and the Interchurch Center, among other places. In 1981, she founded New Dimensions In Leadership, Inc. which for twenty-five years provided training in racial and ethnic understanding. She was the author of I’m A Leader—You’re a Leader, A Handbook for Developing Leadership.
Sister Grace was a recipient of one of the initial John V. Lindsay Prizes for Racial and Ethnic Relations in 1991. Awarded by The Citizens Committee for New York City at its annual gala, and named for the former mayor of New York, the award recognized her work with New Dimensions in Leadership.
In June 1973, she helped lead a STAR (Seeds of Toni and Albert Roothbert) weekend-long program in Pawling, NY. Of the 54 participants, 42 were children aged 6 to 18, who might not have otherwise been able to leave the city during the summer. A frequent visitor to Pendle Hill, in 1987 she led a weekend discussion on “Leadership in a Cross-Cultural Society.”
The Fund awarded her a Fellow’s Project grant in 1999 for “Developing Youth Leadership for a Multi-cultural World.” Sister Grace joined the Roothbert Fund board in 1987 and quickly earned a reputation as an astute reader of applications. She was also responsible for the Mentors (now Fellowship Partner) program for a number of years. When she retired from the board in 2011 she was elected a Senior Fellow of the Fund.
As her fellow board member Jim Rosengarten wrote, “Grace was a breath of fresh air - one of those nuns that really did the Church’s work.”
Percy Preston, Jr.
25 June 2020