Mary Holt Moore, Irish-American community leader, dead at 88

Posted By: July 14, 2016

  • The late Mary Holt Moore was the second woman to become grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and founder of the Bronx and Hunter College Gaelic Society, dead at 88.

The late Mary Holt Moore was the second woman to become grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and founder of the Bronx and Hunter College Gaelic Society, dead at 88.

(TANYA BRAGANTI/TANYA BRAGANTI)

Mary Holt Moore, a prominent leader in the Irish-American community in New York, died Wednesday. She was 88.

Moore was the second woman to become grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, leading the march for the celebration’s 230th anniversary in 1991.

Moore raised in the Bronx, was one of five children born to Charles and Ann O’Rourke Holt.

She graduated from Hunter College, where she founded the Hunter College Gaelic Society, and received her master’s of science degree from the College of New Rochelle.

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Moore worked as a special education teacher in the Bronx for decades and raised eight children with her husband, Thomas Moore, a retired FDNY chief who died in 2012.

She served as president of the Bronx Gaelic League and was inducted into the North American Feis Commission’s Irish Cultural Hall of Fame.

An expert in Irish history, literature and music, Moore was a fierce advocate of Irish culture and taught Gaelic, the Irish language. She was also an instructor of traditional céilí dancing.

A wake will be held at the Assuma Shankey Funeral Home in Pearl River, Rockland County, on Friday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7p.m. to 9 p.m.

A funeral Mass will be held at St. Margaret’s Church in Pearl River on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.