First Female Editor in Chief: Mimi Fitzgerald -

By MaggieMae Dethlefsen

In 1955 The Tower nominated its first ever female Editor in Chief: Mimi Fitzgerald. At the time she was Mimi Reismen, a Sophomore biology major from Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Her son Bill said that “She was 16 when she got to Catholic, coming from a graduating class of 24 girls in her high school.” While studying biology she was “one of the few women who did and, in one instance, was the only woman in a science class.”

When elected Mimi said she was going to “strive to promote a greater interest in The Tower among the students by printing material which interests them and by maintaining the high standards which The Tower has achieved in the past year.” When she was elected to this position Dorothea F. Sullivan, who was an Associate Professor of Social Work wrote to her saying “I want to congratulate you. Although I am not a feminist at heart, I always take special interest in the “firsts” among women, and I know that you will do a wonderful job with the Tower.” This election caused quite the stir on campus and within the CUA community in a piece thought by the family to be written by family friend Mike Clendenin saying that “less than 10 years ago there were no co-eds at all on campus. They are outnumbered 2-1, yet they are the most active members of all organizations…. We predict that, with the possible exceptions of sports, girls will be running all campus activities before long.”

Mimi went on to be a beloved wife, mom, grandmother, as well as going back to school to finish her bachelors degree as well as earning her masters degree. Mimi went on to work for 20 years as an administrator in Arlington County government.

When The Tower heard of her passing we wanted to honor her, especially because in the past nine years, eight of the Editor in Chiefs of The Tower have been women. We thank Mimi for paving the way for us to be able to carry on her legacy by filling this role. As the Editor in Chief I am so thankful to Mimi for starting the precedent of having women in this leadership position.

We know that Mimi will be missed by many and we offer our condolences to the family. We thank Mimi for what she did for The Tower and the legacy that she left. I hope to be able to follow in her footsteps in my time as Editor in Chief.