Bridget A. Duffy

Bridget A. Cotter Duffy of King of Prussia Bridget A. Cotter Duffy, of King of Prussia, a real estate agent who forged lifelong bonds of friendship with many of the customers who purchased condominium units in the Valley Forge Towers where she, too, lived, died on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 after a battle with lung cancer. She was 78. A mother of seven and a grandmother of 18, Duffy was famous among her network of friends for boasting about the accomplishments of her children - a school teacher, two lawyers, a police officer, a newspaper reporter, a construction contractor and a pharmaceuticals executive who also leads a successful musical group. Born in 1932 in England, Duffy's childhood was interrupted by World War II when she and her two sisters were sent to the safer territory of rural Ireland to live with their grandmother. Upon return to London as a teenager, she was forced to drop out of school to begin working a series of jobs including a stint as a switchboard operator for AT&T. In 1953, she married John Duffy, an American soldier based in London, and the couple made a home in his native Philadelphia. As John Duffy began pursuing a college and law school education, Bridget Duffy began having babies. By the time he earned his law degree, the couple had two daughters and three sons. Two more sons would follow soon after. John Duffy went on to become a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Chester County and later played a role in the 1980 ABSCAM scandal when he was hired to defend a member of the Philadelphia City Council targeted in an FBI sting operation, with agents posing as Arab businessmen offering bribes. When the couple divorced after 30 years of marriage, Bridget Duffy embarked in earnest on her own career as a real estate agent. She also pursued her lifelong dreams of traveling the world with repeated trips to England, Ireland, France and Italy, as well as American destinations such as Hawaii, Florida, California and Colorado. A lover of art and especially sculpture, Bridget Duffy would often design her travels with an eye toward seeing the masterpieces of her favorite artists. Her greatest joys, however, came from the successes of her children. Daughter Jane Maughan, a lawyer in Monroe County, is currently serving as president of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Son Seamus Duffy is a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath where he chairs the communications litigation group. Daughter Bridget Wilson returned to college after the death of her first husband to earn an education degree and now teaches third grade. Son Shannon Duffy is a newspaper reporter who covers the federal courts in Philadelphia for the Legal Intelligencer. Son Casey Duffy is co-owner and president of Delaware Valley Remediation, a firm whose jobs have included work on the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Del Frisco's Steakhouse. Son Fitz Duffy is a longtime police officer with the Limerick Township police department and also runs an ambulance company. Son Shavin "Pepper" Duffy is an executive with Pfizer in Collegeville and also heads Midnight Hour, a popular wedding band. In recent years, the boasting began to include tales of her grandchildren's successes when the eldest, Josh Alcorn, secured a job with then-Sen. Joseph Biden to work on his presidential campaign, and later joined the campaign staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in his hard-fought battle to retain his Nevada seat. One granddaughter, Nina Dynon, spent three years working in China, and another granddaughter, Ashley Duffy, spent the summer in Russia on a geology expedition. A third granddaughter, Jenda Alcorn, moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a hair stylist and her clients include the actress Dakota Fanning. Bridget Duffy is survived by two daughters, Bridget Wilson and Jane Roach Maughan, and five sons, Casey Duffy, Seamus Duffy, Shannon Duffy, Fitz Duffy and Shavin "Pepper" Duffy. Relatives and friends are invited to her memorial service at 1 p.m., Friday, Nov. 26, 2010 at the Villanova University Conference Center, 601 County Line Road, Radnor, with a visitation beginning at 12 noon. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, P.O. Box 1058, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010. Arrangements by the DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home of West Chester, 610-696-1181, www.DellaFH.com