(Photographed by Staff Writer Connor Sullivan)
Staff Writer: Connor Sullivan
Email: csullivan14@umassd.edu
Former UMass Dartmouth Board of Trustee member Claire T. Carney died on Sunday, March 24th, at her home in Boca Raton, Florida. Carney was the first woman to be appointed to the school’s Board of Trustees and served the position with the goal of helping others access higher education.
Many students would recognize her name from the campus library. Originally known as the Library Communications Center, it was renamed to the Claire T. Carney Library in 2006 in her honor. According to her obituary, it was “a recognition she described as her greatest pleasure.”
“Claire holds a special place in the UMass Dartmouth community,” wrote Chancellor Mark Fuller, “A New Bedford native and passionate advocate for expanding access to education, Claire strongly believed in the life-changing potential of education.”
Carney was born in New Bedford on June 18th, 1922, to impoverished French Canadian parents who spoke very little English. In 1940, she graduated from New Bedford High School, which made her the first of her family to graduate high school.
“I really wanted to go to Holy Family,” said Carney in an interview with UMassD History Professor Frederick Gifun, “but my family could not afford it.”
After graduating, Carney married Hugh J. Carney and worked at various places to support her four children, including the defunct Morse Twist and Drill Machine Company, the Otis Air Force Base, the U.S. Naval Hospital, and the IRS. In 1962, Hugh Carney suddenly died, leaving Clare alone to raise her kids.
“It was devastating for the children, and even people would say, ‘Poor Claire, with four children,’ but the children were my blessing. That’s what gives you the impetus to go on, you know,” said Carney.
Carney and her eldest son, Patrick, used their savings to found a real estate rehabilitation business, the Claremont Companies. The company still operates today under Patrick’s leadership. While developing Claremont Companies, Carney was careful to ensure that all her children could attend school.
“It was important to me that all the kids got the best education they could get,” said Carney, “So I struggled to have them go to Bishop Stang High School,” a private Catholic school that was well regarded academically. Seeing her children grow and learn from their education inspired her to return to school.
“They were coming home, and we sit around the table, and they would talk about philosophy, psychology, and sociology, but I didn’t know what they were talking and I wanted to be a part of it, and that’s what sent me back to school,” said Carney.
She applied and was accepted to UMass Dartmouth in 1969, back when the school was known as Southeastern Massachusetts University. She started as a Psychology major but eventually switched to English.
“I felt that the greatest thing I ever did for myself was to go back to school,” said Carney. “I just felt enriched to learn so much.”
She graduated in 1973 at the age of 50. After graduating, she continued to work at the Claremont Companies. In 1981, she was appointed to the SMU Board of Trustees by Governor Edward J. King.
“There was a small ad in the newspaper for anybody that was a graduate who cared to be on the alumni board. Send in your name and I did,” said Carney.
“They accepted me, and I loved it. So actually, that was probably the impetus to become a trustee because they had no women member of the board, it was also sheer luck that I was chosen. Somebody up there is watching out for me.”
While she was on the board, the school underwent many changes. She saw the AACSB accreditation of the Charlton College of Business, the creation of the Center of Marine Science, which would eventually become SMAST, and the merger of the Swain School into the College of Visual and Performing Arts in 1988.
“The university has grown by leaps and bounds, when I remember when I started out and to see it today. I can’t get over it. When I ride around campus I can’t get over how it’s changed and it’s so big,” said Carney.
Carney served the maximum of two terms before stepping down in 1989. Even after stepping down from her official role with the school, she claimed,
“I went to everything they had to offer. I went to all the plays, graduations, I marched with the alumni.”
Shortly afterward, she moved down to Florida, where she served on the board of the Life Long Learning Society at Florida Atlantic University for fifteen years. She also served on the board of Directors of the American Association of University Women in Boca Raton. Even from her position in Florida, she worked with UMassD “to volunteer ideas and energy to causes that expand educational opportunity.”
Through her work with the campus, she earned a reputation as an advocate for equal access to education.
“Claire T. Carney is an enduring example of the power of education to transform the lives of individuals and families,” said the Blue & Gold Gala program.