Mary McCanny Gergen
Mary McCanny Gergen died peacefully in her Wallingford home on September 22, after wrestling for a fourth time with cancer. She was 82.
Mary was born in the small prairie town of Balaton, Minnesota, where Saturday afternoons at the movies fired her imagination of what life could become. The possibilities began to open up for her when her family moved to St. Louis Park, in Minneapolis. A star high school student, she went on to receive a Phi Beta Kappa award at the University of Minnesota. She remained at UMN to earn a master’s in educational psychology, and later earned a doctorate in psychology at Temple University.
For the major part of her professional career, Mary served as a professor of psychology and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University (Brandywine). In addition to winning awards for her teaching, she was an active scholar and feminist advocate. Her work especially emphasized the ways in which the idea of gender is created or constructed by society.
Mary’s book, “Feminist Reconstructions in Psychology,” is a significant expression of her ideas.
She also challenged traditional research methods as rooted in too narrow a vision of what kinds of things research could accomplish. Although she participated in traditional research, teaming with Swarthmore College professor Gudmund Iversen to co-write another book, “Statistics, A Conceptual Approach,” she believed that the concept of research should be expanded to include non-science-based practices, in order to serve purposes other than the discovery of objective facts. For example, she championed so-called “arts-based” research practices in her book, “Playing with Purpose,” which was a major vehicle for the expression of her ideas.
Her interest in expanding the definition of research contributed to her decision to join with colleagues to found the Taos Institute, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to exploring the potential practical application of “social constructionist” theory. She played a pivotal role in the formation of a doctoral program and a publishing arm at the institute. Her warm and welcoming presence was also instrumental in persuading some 700 associates from around the world to participate in institute activities.
She married Swarthmore College professor Kenneth Gergen in 1969, and they worked closely together, both as joint founders of the Taos Institute, and also on many writing projects, including the online Positive Aging Newsletter, which they created to emphasize the positive potential of later life. Inspired by Mary’s bright vision of aging, the newsletter is read by thousands, and is translated into six languages. In addition, over the years, the dreams of world travel which she had had since childhood persuaded her husband to arrange sabbaticals and study visits in Rome, Paris, Kyoto, Heidelberg, Buenos Aires, Nanjing, and the Netherlands.
Sustaining her connection with her Irish heritage, Mary carried on an active social life, organizing lively dinner parties and eccentric dance parties, and helping her children host an annual music fest in her garden. She performed in several faculty plays at Swarthmore College, and could often be found with her friends on the Swarthmore tennis courts. On the more serious side, she served for many years as an ombudsman for the Pennsylvania Prison Society.
She is survived by her husband, Ken; five children, Lisa Scintilla (Nick), Michael Gebhart, Laura Pennington (Neil), Stan Gergen (Lisa), and Antonia Gergen; and four grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Emily’s List, P.O. Box 96612, Washington DC 20077, and ABC Strath Haven, P.O. Box 495, Swarthmore, PA 19081. A celebration of Mary’s life will be scheduled in the spring.
