Finnegan, Marianne Gilbert 1931-

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FINNEGAN, Marianne Gilbert 1931-

PERSONAL:

Born July 13, 1931, in Berlin, Germany; naturalized U.S. citizen; daughter of Robert (a song-writer and poet) and Elizabeth (Geldner) Gilbert; married James J. Cunningham (marriage ended); married Walter J. Finnegan, April 29, 1978; children: Julia, Helen Barnaby, Sheila Daley. Education: Western Connecticut University, B.A., 1968; University of Connecticut, Ph.D., 1976. Politics: Democrat. Religion:Unitarian-Universalist. Hobbies and other interests: Community activities, especially those related to the library, arts council, and education.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—33 Collins Terr., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

CAREER:

Connecticut Humanities Council, Middletown, CT, executive director, 1972; State University of New York—Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, NY, executive associate to the president, 1979-85; State University of New York, Albany, NY, senior research editor in chancellor's office, 1986-88; Griffin Bookshop, Algarve, Portugal, owner and manager, 1988-92; Academy for Learning in Retirement, Saratoga Springs, NY, founding executive director, member of executive council, and teacher, 1992-94. Saratoga Springs Public Library, member of board of trustees.

MEMBER:

Society for Values in Higher Education (member of board of directors).

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Ourselves: Then and Now (essays), Third Age Press, 1997.

Memories of a Mischling: Becoming an American (memoir), Xlibris, 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including Soundings. Editor, Apple Tree, 1998-2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Dreaming of Portugal, a memoir, completion expected c. 2004; research on nature writers.

SIDELIGHTS:

Marianne Gilbert Finnegan told CA: "My primary interest is autobiography. I read life stories by others, study the field as an academic pursuit, teach it, and, bit by bit, write my own. Whatever happens to me I write about, either at the time or later on.

"I was born in Germany, just before Hitler became chancellor. My father was Jewish; my mother came from a Lutheran family. This made me a mischling, or half-breed in Nazi parlance, and as subject to danger as all Jews. My book Memories of a Mischling: Becoming an American tells of my family's escape from the Nazis and arrival in New York, where I grew up."