By Mary Frances McCarthy
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 4/8/04)

Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary Sister M. Majella Berg, 87, who served as president of Marymount University in Arlington from 1960-93, died April 5 at the Marymount Convent in Tarrytown, N.Y. Sister Berg is recognized as the longest-serving female college president. She was a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary for 68 years.

Under her leadership, Marymount University grew from a two-year women’s college in 1960, to a senior college offering bachelor’s degrees in 1973, to a coeducational university in 1986. Currently, the university has nearly 4,000 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs.

Born Mae Katherine Berg, Sister Berg was a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. She entered the convent in 1934 and professed her first vows at Marymount in Tarrytown at the age of 18. She made her final vows there in 1941.

Sister Berg earned her bachelor’s degree in Latin from Marymount College in Tarrytown, and a master’s degree in classics from Fordham University.

She was awarded honorary doctorates of humane letters by Georgetown University and Marymount Manhattan College.

Sister Berg’s first job in education was at the Marymount School in New York City where she taught Latin, history and math from 1936-48. She served as registrar there from 1943-48. From 1949-57 she was a professor of classics at Marymount Manhattan College. She came to Arlington in 1957 and served as registrar for a year before returning to New York to serve as registrar at Marymount Tarrytown. She began her tenure as president of Marymount College in Virginia (now Marymount University) in 1960. At that time, the school served 240 young women.

During her presidency, Sister Berg oversaw the construction or renovation of nearly every building on the main campus in Arlington. During her tenure the university also expanded when it acquired its Ballston Campus in Arlington and Loudoun Academic Center in Sterling. Under her leadership, the school also attained NCAA Division III status for its athletic programs.

On the event of Sister Berg’s 25th anniversary in 1985, she told the Arlington Journal, "I always keep thinking what would be best for the college. I’m not here to make sure I live to be 105."

In 1990, Sister Berg was named "Washingtonian of the Year" by Washingtonian magazine, and she was honored by the Arlington County Commission on the Status of Women.

She received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal from the Holy See in 1993.

In 1999, she received the Arlington Community Hero Award for Lifetime Achievement and was named to the Washington Business Hall of Fame and awarded an Arlington Community Hero Award for Lifetime Achievement. Upon receipt of the Hero Award, Sister Berg said, "I have simply focused on what I could do to make Marymount the best possible educational institution and worked to ensure that, as a college and a university, it was an integral part of the Arlington community."

Her involvement in higher education in Northern Virginia included positions in the Consortium for Higher Education in Northern Virginia, the Association of Virginia Colleges and the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area. She was a trustee of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and was active in the founding of Northern Virginia Community College.

Sister Berg remained connected to Marymount University after stepping down as president in 1993. She continued to work on the university’s behalf and maintained contact with business leaders, friends and alumni in Arlington. She had only recently moved to the Marymount Convent in Tarrytown.

Sister Berg is survived by two sisters, Joan Therese Berg Cavanaugh of Islip, N.Y., and Dorothy Berg Fargello of Spring Hill, Tenn.

Funeral services will be held in Tarrytown, N.Y., and in Arlington. A viewing was scheduled at the Marymount Convent in Tarrytown on April 7 from 3 to 7:30 p.m. concluding with a vigil service in the Convent Chapel at 7:30 p.m.

A viewing will be held April 13 at the Main House on Marymount University’s campus, 2807 North Glebe Rd., Arlington, from 6-9 p.m. On April 14 a viewing will be held at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, 3901 Cathedral Lane, Arlington, from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m., followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. A private burial will be held at Fairfax Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Marymount University for the Sister M. Majella Berg Scholarship Fund.