MARGARET HILL

HILL--Margaret Mary.

On September 27, 2018, Margaret Mary Hill, known as "Peggy", passed away peacefully at her home on Fifth Avenue, with her children, Nicholas and Stephanie by her side. Peggy was born to Bridget and Denis Hill on June 20, 1940, and grew up in New York City. She graduated from St. Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana, in 1962 (later returning to receive an honorary D.F.A.). And she graduated from Fordham Law School in 1965, one of four women in a class of 150. Fordham Law considers Peggy to be one of its most distinguished alumni: In 2007, The Fordham Law Alumni Association gave her its highest award, the Medal of Achievement; in 2009, the Fordham Law Review gave her its Leonard F. Manning Achiev- ement Award; in 2016, Fordham Law named its faculty conference room after her; and in 2018, two days before her passing, Fordham Law gave her its Second Harvest Award, for "a lifetime of extraordinary achievement" and "exceptional contributions to society". After law school, noted Judge (and former U.S. Senator, and later Ambassador) Kenneth B. Keating hired Peggy to clerk for him at the New York Court of Appeals; Peggy was the second woman ever to clerk at New York's highest court. Peggy also practiced law at Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst and then at Gulf & Western. She later earned an LL.M. in international law from NYU School of Law. At the end of her legal career, the Inner-City Scholarship Fund gave Peggy its prestigious St. Thomas More Award, "for outstanding leadership and service to the legal profession". Peggy also had a distinguished second career as a theatre producer. She was particularly proud of co- producing the plays of David Mamet, including the prophetic smash hit Oleanna, which ran off-Broadway (1992-94) and in London (1993-94), as well as Broadway productions of Mamet's Speed-the- Plow (2008-09) and Race (2009-10). Most recently (and despite her illness), she was involved in the timely Broadway production of The Parisian Woman (2017-18), about a controversial judicial nomination. Peggy was also a generous philanthropist and community leader. She co- founded Angela House, a transitional residence for young teenage mothers. She served on the Board of Fordham Law and The National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped, and she served as a trustee of the Theatre Development Fund and the HealthCare Chaplaincy of New York. In Southampton, she served on the Board of PianoFest, and she was a past Chairman of the Board of the Cultural and Civic Center of Southampton. She always cherished her Irish heritage, and she served on the Executive Council of the Irish American Historical Society. Peggy was married for many years to financier and philanthropist Robert ("Bob") Rosenkranz, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Delphi Financial Group, and the founder and chairman of the public policy debate series, Intelligence Squared. Peggy had two children with Bob: Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown Law, and Stephanie Hill Hessler, an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Peggy had four grandchildren by Stephanie and her husband, Steve: Dashiell (ten), Declan (ten), MacLean (eight), and Shaughnessy (four). Peggy's fifth grandchild, Quinn, son of Nicholas and his wife Julie, will be born momentarily. Peggy's greatest joy was always spending time with her family. The funeral will be held on Monday, October 1, at 10:00am, at St. Ignatius Loyola Church, 980 Park Avenue, with a reception immediately to follow at the Metropolitan Club.