IRENE HOLLISTER

HOLLISTER--Irene McLean,

of Hanover, NH, died on February 22, 2016, at Kendal in Hanover, NH. She was born in Detroit, MI, on June 14, 1920, daughter of Leo and Alice Marie Bohn McLean, originally of New Jersey. She was predeceased by her brother Major Donald R. McLean, United States Army, who was killed in action in New Guinea in World War II. Irene Hollister graduated from the University of Toledo in 1943, with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. After her move to New York City in the mid-1940s she worked as employment manager at Gimbels New York and Bonwit Teller. She also was employed at Richardson Bellows Henry and Co. where she worked on technical staff procurement for clients. In 1960 she was hired to establish the first permanent office for the not-for-profit Association for Computing Machinery, the world's largest educational and scientific society for computers founded in 1947. The mathematician Franz Alt, a founding member of the Association, noted that her implementation of sound business practices and quality management "marked the beginning of professional administration for the Association for Computing Machinery." During her 26-year tenure as ACM's Director of Membership and Corporate Relations, she oversaw the growth of membership from 8,000 to over 75,000. Working closely with ACM's Executive Committee and Council, and traveling widely in the United States and abroad, provided her with the opportunity to develop a working relationship with computer science leaders in government, education, and research during a period of rapid growth and innovation of the field. In addition to her professionalism, Irene Hollister had a talent for recognizing people of potential whom she supported with training and mentoring. This talent proved invaluable at the time of her retirement which made for a smooth transition. Irene Hollister married the author and artist Paul M. Hollister in 1951, whom she met at Carnegie Hall while she moonlighted as an usher; they were introduced by the author and music critic Louis Biancolli. Paul Hollister was teaching journalism at New York University at the time, and they were married for 53 years until his death in 2004. A noted art critic and author specializing in the history of glass, he wrote many articles for decorative arts publications, such as American Craft, the Corning Museum of Glass Journal of Glass Studies, The Magazine Antiques, and the international publication Neues Glas. His reviews of studio glass exhibitions which appeared in the New York Times during the 1970s and 1980s were especially of note. After Irene's retirement, Irene and Paul traveled extensively, combining sight-seeing with visits to private and public glass collections, where many curators graciously opened storage units to them for study. Irene and Paul Hollister donated their collection of modern Scottish paperweights to the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH. In 2007 Irene established the Paul and Irene Hollister Endowed Lecture on Glass at the Bard Graduate Center in New York where much of Paul Hollister's library on glass is located. According to Forrest Proper of Joslin Hall Rare Books, this was "probably the finest collection of books on glass in private hands in this country," and now forms the basis of BGC's glass library. She was also a major contributor to the Paul Hollister Archives at the Rakow Research Library, Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, which includes an assemblage of his audio lectures and interviews with studio glass artists. Their extensive collection of vintage Kuna mola applique textiles from the San Blas Islands, Panama, was gifted by her to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2008. Her husband's watercolors of interiors of Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, a National Historic Landmark at Historic New England in Gloucester, MA, drawn in color when he was 16 years old from black and white photographs, have been gifted to the Beauport Museum. She also co-edited Paul Hollister's "Collected Writings on Studio Glass" with Associate Professor Catherine Whalen of Bard Graduate Center (work in progress). In addition, Irene Hollister was interested in and supported the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH; Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) in Montpelier, VT; Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY; and the Upper Valley Haven in White River Jct., VT. Contributions in Irene Hollister's memory may be made to the Paul and Irene Hollister Endowed Lecture on Glass at Bard Graduate Center or to the Upper Valley Haven.