Gail P. Quinn - Obituary

ail Patricia Quinn of Annapolis, MD died on July 24 after a brief illness. Gail was born to Charles and Gloria (nee Foster) Quinn on March 18, 1943 in New Jersey, and grew up in the Fort Lee – Englewood Cliffs area. She attended St. Cecilia’s High School and Seton Hall University. In 1966, Gail moved to the Washington, D.C. area to work for the National Catholic Welfare Conference (now the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), first in its Family Life Office, then in the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. She was the administrative assistant to the first director of the Secretariat, the Reverend James T. McHugh (later bishop of Camden, NJ and then of Rockville Centre, NY), and his successors. After its inception in 1972 Gail served for many years as the Director of the Bishops’ Respect Life Program. In 1991 she was appointed as the Executive Director of the Pro-Life Secretariat, the first woman and the first lay person to hold that position. She served in this leadership post until 2006. During the 1990s Gail served as an official delegate of the Holy See at the United Nations’ Conference on Population held in Cairo, Egypt and the Conference on Women held in Beijing, China. In 1995 Gail was named a Dame of St. Gregory by Pope John Paul II. Gail later served as a Consultant to the U.S. Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities and on the Board of Directors for the Vitae Foundation. After retirement, Gail moved to Annapolis, where she was active in community affairs. Gail was predeceased by her parents, her sister Maureen Harris (Roy), her brothers Brian and Charles (Marion) and her brother-in-law Richard Rossi. She is survived by her sisters Diane Geiler(Joseph), Jacqueline Rossi and Mary Hannon (Paul), her brothers John (Barbara), Thomas (Patricia) and James (Deborah), and more than 100 nieces, nephews and grand nieces and nephews. Friends are invited to celebrate Gail’s life on Wednesday, July 27th from 4-8pm at the Kalas Funeral Home & Crematory, 2973 Solomons Island Rd., Edgewater, MD. Friends are invited to celebrate Gail’s life on Friday, July 29th from 4-8pm at the Moritz Funeral Home, 98 Route 303, Tappan, NY. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, 120 Kings Highway, Tappan, NY on Saturday, July 30 at 10:30 am with burial to follow at the Tappan Cemetery. Online condolences may be made using the Memories tab on this page.