Deedee Corradini

Deedee Corradini
1944 ~ 2015

"I was born on April 11th, 1944, in Providence, Rhode Island, the second child of Marie-Louise and Horace McMullen. From ages 4 to 15, my family and I lived in the Middle East, first in Beirut, Lebanon, where my father, a theologian and minister, was president of the Near East School of Theology and I attended the American Community School. Then we were in Aleppo, Syria, where he was president of Aleppo College. I made lifelong friends and became fluent in French and Arabic.
I attended Drew University from 1961-63, where I met and married Paul Robert Corradini. We moved to Utah after falling in love with the mountains. We had visited my parents there after they relocated for my father to become the pastor of Holladay United Church of Christ. I received a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Utah in 1965, then a master's in Educational Psychology in 1967. Paul and I had two wonderful children. Although we divorced in 1973, we remained close throughout our lives.
With an early passion for politics, I served as press secretary to Congressman Wayne Owens (D-Utah) and Rep. Richard Ottinger (D-New York) in the early 1970s. This led to a great desire to serve the public, which I was honored to do from 1992-2000, as the first, and to date only, female mayor of Salt Lake City. There are two things of which I was most proud from my tenure as mayor: The first was bringing TRAX light-rail to the city, allowing a more modern and eco-friendly transportation system for the public. It has been extraordinary to see TRAX continually expanding, which has enabled Salt Lake City the potential to become the innovative, world-class city it deserves to be.
The second was winning the bid for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. I held such a great love for Utah, its mountains and its people, and I wanted to share that with the world. I will never forget the moment I received the Olympic Flag during the Closing Ceremonies from International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch during the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
It was also an honor to represent all of the nation's mayors by serving as the president of the United States Conference of Mayors, both on the national and international front.
In 1998 during a Renaissance Weekend on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, I met my partner in life and love, John Huebner, a charming Southerner from Greenville, South Carolina, with whom I went head to head on a panel titled "The Changing Relationships Between Men and Women." We married a year later. I have enjoyed a wonderful and fulfilling 16 years with him by my side, both travelling the world, and living in our home in Park City, sitting on the deck watching the sun set over our beloved Wasatch mountains in the summer and relaxing in front of our roaring fire in the winter.
In 2004, I met a teenage world-class ski jumper, Lindsey Van, who told me that women were not allowed to jump in the Olympic Games. First I was in disbelief, and then I was furious. Soon after that pivotal meeting, I became the president of Women's Ski Jumping USA. With an army of athletes, volunteers and the court of public opinion, we would go on to wage a 10-year, global battle for justice to one day see women ski jumping on the world's biggest sports stage. We ultimately won and women's ski jumping made its debut -- and made history -- in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.
Since 2004 I have enjoyed my time as a senior vice president with Berkshire Hathaway (formerly Prudential) Real Estate. They have been wonderful to me.
I was honored to serve as president of the International Women's Forum (IWF) from 2011 to 2013, where I was surrounded by many bright and visionary global women leaders who continue to lead our world on a brighter path forward. Most recently, I served as IWF's global ambassador. My time spent at IWF greatly increased my understanding of and perspective into the incredible talent and leadership potential that women have in this world. It inspired me to champion, promote, and enable women to create their own extraordinary legacies.
I am survived by my wonderful husband John Huebner, my two incredible children and their spouses whom I have loved as though they were my own; my son, Andrew Stafford Corradini and his wife Valerie Petrone Corradini of Hillsborough, California, and my daughter, Andrea Marie Corradini, and her husband, David Brown of Portland, Oregon; my three wild and wonderful grandchildren, Savannah, Stafford, and Sebastian; my sister Laura McMullen, my brother Daniel McMullen and his wife Marina; my niece, Katya, my nephew Matthew McMullen (Ashley) and their girls Ella and Eva, and my nephew David McMullen (Ayumi), and their son Akira. I am preceded in death by my parents, Horace Martin McMullen and Marie-Louise McMullen, and my brother, Garrett McMullen. My family has brought me immeasurable love, support, strength, and joy and I know they will continue to live with sheer grace and joyful hearts.
I am profoundly grateful to the amazing medical team at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) for their care since my diagnosis of Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (the non-smoking type) on July 23rd; Dr. Wallace Akerley, Julie Luckart, APRN, Terry Van Duren, RN, Dr. Anna Beck, Dr. Jonathan Boltax, Audra Zdunich, RN, and Brigitte Christianson, who administered my IVs gently and painlessly, and always left me with a hug.
To all the incredible nurses and aids who were so kind during all my days and nights at HCI, you were a blessing. I would also like to thank Sue and Liza, the nurses with Community Nursing Services who took care of my comfort and allowed me to be at home with my family during my hardest and final days."

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Deedee Corradini is at noon on Monday, March 9, at Wasatch Presbyterian Church, 1626 South, 1700 East. A reception will follow from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Log Haven, 6451 E. Mill Creek Canyon Rd.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of the following organizations in honor of her memory: American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon (http://www.acs.edu.lb/page.cfm?p=721), Women's Ski Jumping USA (www.wsjusa.com), or the Huntsman Cancer Foundation (http://healthcare.utah.edu/huntsmancancerinstitute/giving/huntsman-cancer-foundation/)
Online condolences may be left at www.evans-earlymortuary.com.