Maureen Clare Cottone

It is with great sadness that the family of Maureen Clare Cottone, née Cuite, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, announces her passing on June 21 after a battle with lung cancer. Born on September 1, 1941 to Francis Cuite and Frances Connolly of Brooklyn, New York, Maureen is survived by her husband of sixty-four years, Philip S. Cottone, also of Malvern; her four sons, Anthony, Robert, Jay, and Stephen; her four daughters-in-law, Emily Sack, Patricia Hall, Carol Cunningham and Staci Nelson; her eleven grandchildren, Megan (and her husband, Dr. Michael Fishman), Katherine, Dylan, Anna (and her husband, Michael Lloyd), Ryan, James, Sarah (and her husband, Benjamin Davies), Jessica (and her husband Sergio Monsalve), Philip, Margaret and William; and her two great-grandchildren, Matthew and Colin Fishman.

Phil was introduced to Maureen by her older brother, the late Thomas F. Cuite, at a dance at St. Francis Preparatory in Brooklyn. Maureen was thirteen years of age and Phil was fifteen. They dated through high school, married in 1957 and initially lived in Brooklyn. In 1962, they moved to East Rockaway, New York (Maureen’s hometown). A decade later, they moved to Devon, Pennsylvania, eventually downsizing in Malvern in 2006.

Maureen often repeated that there were two facts about her that would never change: that she was Irish and that she was a loyal Democrat. She served as Deputy Zone Leader for the Democratic Party of the Village of East Rockaway, as a campaign adviser to New York State Assemblyman (and later, New York State Supreme Court Judge) Eli Wager, and after moving from Long Island to Pennsylvania in 1972, as Committeeperson for the Eastown Township Democratic Party. Maureen also worked for a period in the offices of Drs. Peter N. Hillyer and Stephen C. Fox in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Yet, her primary occupation was as a homemaker and a superb Italian cook for her immediate family, as a loving daughter to her mother – who lived with Maureen and Phil for most of her life – a superb grandmother, and as a touchstone for an extended family, which included some twenty-three cousins in Brooklyn and on Long Island.

Maureen was an avid tennis player, crossword enthusiast, astute shopper and later in life attained the status of Life Master at bridge. Although she traveled around the world on many business trips with Phil and routinely charmed highly successful business types of all sorts, she was equally at home with the waitress at Friendly’s who for years would chat with her as she did her crossword puzzle.

The family will be scheduling a private memorial service. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to West Bay Residential Services, Inc., 158 Knight Street, Warwick, R.I. 02886, a non-profit that owns and operates group homes for adults with special needs, including the home where Maureen’s grandchild Katherine resides.