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Connie Curran Obituary
Connie is survived by her daughter Melissa Curran, son-in-law Adam Oberweiser, and grandson Oliver Oberweiser, all of San Francisco. She also is survived by her father Pat Curran (Berlin, WI); siblings Colleen Raterman (Mike), Doylestown, PA; Tom Curran (Karen), Windsor, WI; Ann Curran Gleichert, Birchwood WI; Mary Curran, Chicago; and Patty Curran, Buffalo, MN; and former husband and friend, Donovan W. Riley.
Connie was preceded in death by her mother, Kathleen Ottoway Crimmings (Berlin, WI).
A native of Berlin, WI, Connie became a nationally recognized and highly regarded healthcare leader. She was also a vibrant and effective voice for women and nurses taking their place in the executive suite and the boardroom.
At the time of her death, Connie was serving as chairman of the board of DeVry Education Group, the parent corporation for DeVry University, Chamberlain School of Nursing, and others. She also was serving on the board of Hospira, Inc., and was previously on the boards of Volcano, Pyxis, Allegiance, Cardiodynamics, and IDX.
Connie also was a board member at DePaul University (Chicago); Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago; and the University of Wisconsin Foundation. She also is a past chair of Silver Cross Hospital (Joliet, IL), which she helped lead to repeated Top 100 Hospital status, and formerly was a board member of the National Student Nurses Association.
One of Connie's first appointments was at the University of San Francisco School of Nursing, where she served as a dean and faculty member from 1977-1981.
She also was Vice President of the American Hospital Association; the founding dean of the former Medical College of Wisconsin School of Nursing; chair of nursing at Montefiore Medical Center (NY); and vice chair of APM, Incorporated.
Connie founded CurranCare in 1995, a national healthcare consulting and management company, which was acquired in 2000 by Cardinal Health.
Connie was the first executive director of C-Change, a unique organization that brings together the nation's top leaders in cancer from the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. Connie served under the leadership of founding Honorary Chairs President George H. W. Bush, Mrs. Barbara Bush, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Connie authored more than 200 scholarly articles and research projects. She is the first Editor Emeritus of Nursing Economics, which she led editorially for more than 18 years.
She held degrees from the University of Wisconsin, DePaul University, and Northern Illinois University. She also is a graduate of Harvard University Business School's OPM program.
A public celebration of Connie's life, sponsored by DePaul University, is planned for December 6, 2014, 10 AM, at St. Vincent de Paul Parish (Chicago).
Memorials can be made in Connie's name to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, www.bcrfcure.org, or the University of Wisconsin Foundation/School of Nursing, www.myuwconnect.org.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Connie Curran
Keith Bradkowski, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
November 10, 2023
Connie was a real mentor for many of us and her passion remains a powerful force.
Virginia Seno
November 10, 2023
Was in my fortune to have Connie as a guest professor at UW Madison. Not only did she teach that we were brilliant independent practitioners; but we learned how to be the best of the best teachers. Over the years I've used her strategies and style to lift students up in their own practice. So wonderful.
Keith Bradkowski, MSN, RN
December 23, 2022
It´s hard to believe Connie passed away 8 years ago because I still feel her presence as a nurse every day. I first met Connie when she gave the Nurses Week lecture at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She was my mentor in graduate school at the U of Illinois, I worked with her at APM and also served as a consultant at CurranCare. She was a wonderful friend and mentor.
Beth Ingram
November 10, 2020
Six years later, the void in my heart is still there. I miss you, Connie!
Carl Fricke
November 10, 2019
Always remembered. You gave us so much.
suzanne guy
November 10, 2019
To this day, I think of Connie regularly and the huge loss and hole left in our hearts when she died. My heart goes out to her precious family that she talked about with me every time we spoke. How she loved her family so much and how she loved all in her path so very beautifully! The world is missing an amazing soul who left all she encountered blessed beyond measure! She meant the world to me and I miss her always! God bless her family. AND may I add that because of how God used Connie, a precious village in Uganda has a ministry that has been helping their school stay open and lives have been changed all because Connie saw the heart of a teenage girl for Uganda and made it possible for that girl to go to Uganda, my Rachel, and in that a ministry was birthed for a precious school in Bwerenga Village.....Connie is responsible for this! God bless that huge heart of hers that always saw the dreams in others and made those dreams possible. She was so used by God
Suzanne Guy
Myron Siegel
July 3, 2015
I don't know what caused me to look, but I was saddened at seeing the obituary. I am so sorry to hear of Connie's passing.
I was a graduate student at Northern Illinois University at the same time as Connie. I was also her statistician on her Ed.D dissertation. We were friend, but I lost track of her after her stint as Dean at Loyola's Nursing School and last spoke to her about 10 years ago when she was on the board at Silver Cross Hospital.
He personality, strength, intelligence were her charm, not to mention spectacular green eyes and red hair.
She was a wonderful and spectacular woman and her passing is a loss to all who she touched or new. I extend my belated condolences to her family.
Deborah J Cornwall
March 3, 2015
Dearest Connie, our world will feel your loss more than you could have imagined. You leave a hole that won't be easily filled. Debbie Cornwall
February 1, 2015
Connie was a an amazing person. My heart goes out to her family. I'm going to miss all the wounderful talks I use to have with her. Heather
December 3, 2014
My deepest condolences to family and friends. I had the priviledge to work with Connie during the early years of CurranCare. She was a such an inspirational leader. We will miss her. Dr. Beth Lada Morse
Dr. Virginia Seno
November 29, 2014
Growing up in Wisconsin, Berlin or Beloit -- two girls dreamed of becoming nurses. How did I get so lucky as to have Connie Curran, a nurse with influential powers matching Florence Nightingale, as a Visiting Professor? An alum also of University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, she was so compelling a teacher that I went away from a class with her in Summer, 1984 and negotiated a $10,000 raise. Not only that, she told me I was brilliant. Gee, I wonder why I never forgot that! This impeccable teacher and leader recently died but wow, what an example of living powerfully on and on. My story is one small one born of her ability to connect and create and to wave her magic wand so that others believed they could too!
Dr. Virginia Seno
November 29, 2014
Growing up in Wisconsin, Berlin or Beloit -- two girls dreamed of becoming nurses. How did I get so lucky as to have Connie Curran, a nurse with influential powers matching Florence Nightingales', as a Visiting Professor? An alum also of University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, she was so compelling a teacher that I went away from a class with her in Summer, 1984 and negotiated a $10,000 raise. Not only that, she told me I was brilliant. Gee, I wonder why I never forgot that! This impeccable teacher and leader recently died but wow, what an example of living powerfully on and on. My story is one small one born of her ability to connect and create and to wave her magic wand so that others believed they could too!
Linda Pophal
November 24, 2014
It has been a struggle to deal with the news of Connie's passing. Such a shock and such a loss. She was an amazing woman and clearly had a very positive impact on all she encountered, including me. I'm so sorry for the family's loss but know her memory and the legacy of all she did will live on in many ways.
Wayne and Terry Ottoway
November 18, 2014
I only met Connie a few times I'm my life, but all of them were memorable. She always spoke of her affection of Gene and Darlene. How excited she would get when it was time to visit the river. She was passionate about her work in making life better for others. She was taken to soon and will be missed. RIP Connie Curren.
Robert Ottoway
November 18, 2014
Our family will miss you cousin. Sincerely, Robert J. Ottoway, RN, BSN
Eric Dirst
November 18, 2014
Connie, the passion, enthusiasm, and leadership you brought to the DeVry board of directors was an inspiration to many of us at DeVry Education Group. We will miss you. Eric
Laurie Hernandez
November 18, 2014
Connie was a mentor and friend. She provided such warm support and guidance to me and so many others.
Darren Huston
November 17, 2014
I came to know Connie while serving on the DeVry board. What an amazing, energetic, funny, and brilliant person. Always a nurse, always a force. She will be missed. Rest in peace, Connie.
Kathryn Carpenter Totah
November 17, 2014
Dear Melissa and family,
I am sorry for your loss. Connie was one of my teachers at USF and I have never forgotten how inspiring she was. She encouraged us to do our best and I remember her fondly.
Suzanne and Rachel and Peter
November 17, 2014
Connie was a very special angel on this earth who impacted many lives with that huge heart of hers and there will be a gaping hole in many hearts and lives always in her absence on this earth….How Jesus loves her and holds her so closely now and may He fill every wounded, hurting heart in this devastating news especially her precious family that she loved so much and spoke of with such depth of love and gratitude.
November 16, 2014
Connie was a uniquely brilliant, positive, supportive, funny, energetic person. She believed in the capabilities of every person she knew and was entirely unselfish in helping her friends and colleagues shine their own light. I have never known a person as positive, supportive, creative and generous as Connie. It was a true privilege to have known her and been a friend and colleague going back to the 1970's. My genuine condolences to her family. Mr. Curran (father) she always talked about what an positive influence you were on her life. You told her she could do anything she wanted--and indeed she did.
Carl Fricke
November 16, 2014
So many can be very thankful and appreciative for the breadth and depth of people and entities that Connie wonderfully touched and gave, in so many ways, even until most recently, when we shared good times, family history and future ideas. May your family be comforted in knowing she meant a lot to many others. We will sorely miss, and remember, you Connie.
Judith Barrett
November 16, 2014
Prayers for CONNIE from a former USF faculty member.
Beth Ingram
November 15, 2014
Connie's whole life was about helping others in so many ways. Her caring friendship touched my family's lives immeasurably. I cannot express the void her passing has left in my life, but I am so grateful for having known her. Melissa and family, you all are in my prayers.
Maree Bullock
November 15, 2014
Your Mother served as a role model for me -- I loved her energy-intellect-caring nature-her love of life-her fearless nature. She will be missed --She lives on through everyone she touched in profound ways. My thoughts surround you, Melissa, and your family.
Rod Huebbers
November 15, 2014
There will be a great void in this world without you Connie. It's a terrible loss.
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