During the summers, she studied English at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Her parents were ambivalent about her becoming a nun, but respected her decision.Īfter her first vows, Grennan was sent off to teach in Texas and later Missouri. She took Jacqueline as her religious name, in memory of her brother Jack, who died of a brain tumor at age 21. Rather than applying for a fellowship to attend Radcliffe College as she had considered, she decided to become a nun, later explaining that she wanted "to make life productive for as many people as possible." In 1949, she formally entered the Sisters of Loretto, and in December 1950, made her first vows. She majored in mathematics and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in June 1948. She was the first girl in her high school to pursue a general science course rather than study home economics.Īfter graduating, Grennan attended Webster College in Webster Groves, Missouri. Mary's Parochial School and Catholic Community High School in Sterling. Grennan's parents were devout Catholics who impressed on her the value of education. She grew up on a 250-acre farm where her parents raised cattle and grew corn and soybeans. The youngest child of Edward and Florence (née Dawson) Grennan, she had two sisters, Sue and Rita, and a brother, Jack, who died as a young adult. Jean Marie Grennan was born on August 2, 1926, in Sterling, Illinois, United States. She left Hunter College in 1979, and in 1982, she became President of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, remaining until 1990, when she retired. There, she dealt with student protests and expanded the college's healthcare curriculum and facilities. In 1969, she became President of Hunter College in Manhattan, part of the City University of New York. In 1967, Grennan completed Webster College's transition to lay ownership, and she herself left her religious order. She soon began major reforms, improving curricula, renovating and expanding the campus, and initiating volunteer service programs. In 1965, Wexler succeeded Sister Francetta Barberis as president of the college. In 1957, she graduated with a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame, and in 1959, was transferred to work at Webster College, becoming Vice President in 1960. In 1948, she joined the Sisters of Loretto and went on to teach in Texas and Missouri. She went on to serve as President of the National Conference of Christians and Jews from 1982 to 1990.īorn in 1926 in Illinois, Wexler grew up on a farm and matriculated at Webster College in 1944. She later left her religious order, the Sisters of Loretto, and was President of Hunter College in New York City from 1970 to 1980. Webster College became the first Catholic university to legally split from the Catholic Church. Jacqueline Grennan Wexler (born Jean Marie Grennan Aug– January 19, 2012), commonly known as Sister J, was an American Catholic religious sister who rose to prominence when she, as President of Webster College, strove to convince the Holy See allow the transferral of the college's ownership to a lay board of trustees.
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