A funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. at the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River for Maura Devlin Rossi, a former award-winning reporter and columnist for The Beacon. She died on Oct. 16. She was 96.
Born in Passaic, Rossi moved to Ireland when she was five after her mother died. She lived with two unmarried aunts in the town of Omagh in the north of Ireland. She attended boarding school in Monaghan which was founded by the Sisters of St. Louis.
Rossi returned to the United States at 19 and lived with her father in Passaic County. She attended Fordham University and a dramatic arts school.
In 1955, she married Francis Adolph Rossi, who was also a newspaper reporter. Rossi worked at the Bergen Record and the Paterson News. She and Frank had eight girls, living in Fair Lawn before moving to Upper Saddle River in 1965.
After her career as a reporter, Maura served for several years as the public relations director for what is now known as St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson.
Rossi returned to the newspaper business, working for The Beacon, the newspaper of the Paterson Diocese. She reported on events in the Catholic parishes and also on state and national news. Rossi accompanied St. Pope John Paul II on his American tour, reporting on his travels for The Beacon. She also traveled to countries in Central America to report on Catholic religious work there. Rossi wrote a weekly column in The Beacon.
Her husband, Frank, worked as an editor at the Daily News in New York in his later career and had retired.
Rossi received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the Paterson Diocese and was named a Papal Lady by the Church.
Rossi belonged to the choir of the Church of the Presentation for many years and worked in its soup kitchen ministry. She was an inveterate storyteller and enjoyed telling tales about her time in Ireland.
After 25 years, Rossi retired from The Beacon. She volunteered at the former St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor in Totowa.
Rossi is survived by seven daughters, Christina, Mary Loekle, Nina, Agnes, Chiara Duggan, Patricia, and Elissa. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her husband, Frank, died at 94 in 2022. She was predeceased by a daughter, Francesca, in 2023.
Memorial donations can be made to the American Lung Association at www.lung.org
