Mary McCleary

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and spent 11 years in Europe. I found the contrast between the enterprising, forward-looking American ideal and the ancient European cultural heritage fascinating. Among other things, I've been a vice-president at an investment management company in Maryland, and the president of an educational NGO in Brussels. I'm also actively involved in Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.

When I moved to Boston 9 years ago, I thought I was prepared for the harsh climate. Wrong! So, to combat the winter blues, I set out to find all that was good in the region and ended up enjoying the city immensely. I suppose the easiest explanation for my varying degrees (music conservatory grad, political science B.A., English literature M.A., and editorial studies Ph.D.) is that I prefer the Renaissance model over the utilitarian approach to education – and to life! I also applied that interdisciplinary perspective to my doctoral dissertation, which was on the Shakespearean libretti of Giuseppe Verdi.

As for the NBP, I’m glad they’ve welcomed me, Independent political views and all. Like the bridge in their logo, the NBP tries to bring people of different backgrounds together by focusing on the good that unites them, rather than the acrimony that divides them.

Items by Mary McCleary

American Antiquarian Society: A democratic view of history

Mass. Center for Civic Education promotes engaged citizenship among students

Mass. Gen. Hospital takes global lead with Human Trafficking Initiative

Harvard Museums unveil resplendent renovations

What Boston is doing to slow the alarming rise of elder abuse

Presidents of successful small religious colleges share insights (Part 2)

Presidents of successful small religious colleges share insights

An unlikely media mogul: FableVision founder Peter H. Reynolds

Macbeth and the tyranny of unchecked power

H+H to present music by African American composers

Elevating Entrepreneurs program helps under-served businesses achieve success

Boston millennial homebuyers lag behind national average

Entrepreneurs and conservationists collaborate at Groton’s Gibbet Hill  

Remembering selfless baseball great Roberto Clemente

Conservatory spearheads musical outreach

Heroism and loss: The first Native American woman to die in combat

Bruce Brubaker on classical music’s emergent audiences

Theodore Roosevelt and Boston’s National Park legacy

Bach performed with rare profundity at H+H concert

Rep. Rady Mom on transforming Lowell’s urban landscape

Boston Lyric Opera’s dazzling doyennes

Biophysicist creates award-winning sustainable housing

Mayor Walsh and the importance of educational opportunities

The revolutionary skyscrapers of Fazlur Khan

Maggie Walker’s journey ‘up on the rough side of the mountain’

Paving the way for women in science: Nobel Laureate Gertrude Elion

Defining movement with the legendary Alvin Ailey Dance Theater

The elusive art of conversation

‘But such of you as wish to be happy’

William Wells Brown’s intrepid journey as the first African-American playwright

Opera: A primer for the primaries

Gateways founding director serves Boston’s Jewish community and beyond

Civil War chivalry at Appomattox

Dorothy Day: From bohemian to beatitude

Momentum builds for Lowell Middle East relief effort

Cultural cleansing in Mosul and Nineveh

Lowell churches unite to help persecuted Christians

The enduring appeal of Shakespeare’s Falstaff

Giving trees at Catholic churches bring joy to the needy

Former Iraqi refugee leads inspiring community outreach programs

Caroling: Here we come a’wassailing!

Rose Hawthorne: Founder of the modern hospice movement

Symphony Hall basks in Christmas spirit with Handel’s Messiah

Abandoned but not forgotten: The Lazarus Ministry

History repeats itself at H+H bicentennial concert

Opiate use and euthanasia

Finding hope at the New England Center for Veterans

Documentary photography shines at New England Biennial exhibit

Beauty and banality in the fine arts

Salem’s Person of the Century: A pioneering champion of immigrants

Columbus and Erikson: the North End and the Southern beginning

‘Play not the peacock’ — Washington’s Rules of Civility

The Quasi-War decision that saved the nation

Celestial sounds from an unlikely boy band

Underground Railroad history at Concord’s Wayside

Encore! Handel & Haydn Society Bicentennial Display at BPL

An inventor’s legacy at Hammond Castle

To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis exhibit

Nautical poetry in the Bay State

Yo-Yo Ma’s lyrical prowess on display at BSO concert

Rising to the Top: Paul Revere’s Elegant Creamer

Sir Neville Marriner leads BSO in glittering Tanglewood concert

Carriages and marriages at Quincy Homestead

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