Marian (“Holly”) Gerace, age 87, passed away peacefully at her home in Washington, D.C., after a challenging 12-year journey with Alzheimer’s disease. She was predeceased by her beloved husband of 58 years, Terry Gerace Sr., in September of 2025.

Known to her family and friends by her middle name, Holly, she was a beloved wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, aunt, daughter, sister, cousin, and friend. She is survived by her daughter and son, son-in-law, Portuguese son, her grandchildren, nieces, and cousins, all of whom were the great joys of her life. To Holly’s family, she was first and foremost an unconditionally loving, affectionate, supportive, and patient mother, grandmother, and wife. She was a respectful, loyal, and dutiful daughter, even at times when circumstances made that difficult. Holly never missed an event in her children’s or grandchildren’s lives, from school plays and two generations of band concerts, to soccer games and Girl Scout camping trips. Holly was always present and listening when it mattered; always loving, but never smothering. She was a fierce advocate and ally for her family and friends, without ever being overbearing or intrusive. Her deep devotion to, and care for, those she loved was the center of who she was.

Born in Hamden, CT, in 1938, in young adulthood Holly fearlessly explored the world beyond her small-town New England origins. She spent an enlightening and formative junior year of college at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, learning and bonding with new friends from all around the world; experiences that helped her develop the open and inquisitive mind she maintained throughout her life. While studying in Geneva in 1958–59, Holly was a member of the first student tour of the Soviet Union after the rise of the Berlin Wall. She relished telling tales of her adventures on the other side of the Iron Curtain, including trying to dodge KGB minders, trading smuggled Swiss chocolate for a Soviet Union paraphernalia, and dining on peanut butter and jelly with the Marines at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow because Soviet “cuisine” at the time apparently left something to be desired. There was even an unverified story of her smuggling out a diplomatic pouch to the U.S. Embassy in Geneva! After her graduation from Alfred University, there were more European adventures to be had during a year living in Rome, followed by a return home to Connecticut to work as a librarian, schoolteacher, and in her family’s real estate mortgage business. Holly eventually went on to work as a librarian at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., which was where she met and married the love of her life and husband of 58 years, Terry Sr., who was a GW graduate student at the time.

In 1970, after moving with her husband and toddler daughter to Coral Gables, FL, where Terry Sr. had received a scholarship to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Miami, Holly dedicated her life to making a safe, secure, and loving home for her family, and ensuring that her two children received the best possible education from the public school system. She never missed a PTA meeting, back-to-school night, or band parent chaperoning responsibility. She ferried her kids to a dozen years of piano lessons, dance classes, and band rehearsals — for the first 10 years in a station wagon without air-conditioning or a working gas gauge. Holly had a tight-knit group of supportive and loving women friends in Miami, whom she cherished. Holly was also a hands-on board member for the Miami Civic Music Association, helping to coordinate an annual series of instrumental and vocal artists, including symphonic, chamber, instrumental group, voice, and piano programs at the University of Miami’s Gusman Concert Hall, as well as belonging to the U of M Medical Faculty Wives. She loved music, dance, art and theater of all kinds and especially enjoyed her season tickets to the Miami Opera. When the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology welcomed women to matriculate for the first time, she was recruited by her dear college friend and Rose-Hulman Institute president to join the previously all-male Board of Trustees. She later established the Joy Hulbert Endowed Scholarship at Rose-Hulman in memory of her dear friend and wife of the institute's president. The birth of her two grandchildren led Holly and Terry Sr. to return to live near them in the city where they first met and married, Washington, DC. Holly and Terry Sr. both enjoyed being very active in their grandchildren’s lives, quite literally never missing a birthday — or the actual births — as well as attending countless band, dance, and choir concerts, soccer games, school plays, and nearly two dozen Sidwell Friends grandparents’ days. Her final adventure before Alzheimer’s struck was a joint creative venture with her son: the renovation of a historic Dupont Circle mansion, transforming it into a family home, bed-and-breakfast, and art gallery. Holly delighted in co-hosting the family holidays, art gallery openings (including one she organized for a fellow Alfred alum) book launches, and charity events at the bed-and-breakfast, as well as chatting with interesting guests from all walks of life and from around the globe. Most of all, Holly truly enjoyed life’s meaningful, yet simple pleasures: Friday night pizza with her family, long walks around Georgetown and Dupont Circle, concerts and cultural events at Georgetown University, and midday movie dates, always with her beloved husband beside her. She also enjoyed dessert. A lot. Please enjoy your favorite dessert in her honor today.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to the Joy Hulbert Endowed Scholarship at Rose Hulman institute of Technology (contact Ashley Hemrich at hemrich@rose-hulman.edu) or the Alzheimer's Association (https://www.alz.org/research).