A Tribute from CCJ to Mary Christine Byrd

BY ELIZABETH M. MCGEEVER, ESQUIRE

Delaware’s legal community lost a trusted and true friend, Mary Christine Byrd, in late 2021. Mary Christine, “MC” as she was known to us, guided fundraising for the Combined Campaign for Justice from its inception in 1998 until her retirement in 2017.

MC’s work to sustain legal services for disadvantaged people in Delaware preceded CCJ’s creation. Earlier in the 1990s, when each of Delaware’s three legal service agencies ran separate fundraising campaigns, MC worked on behalf of CLASI’s Campaign for Justice. She tutored Dave Baldwin and me in the “art of the ask” at many early morning meetings at CLASI’s old office housed in a row house at 9th and Washington Streets. In those days, we were thrilled to reach our $100,000 goal for CLASI’s campaign. Thanks to the creation of CCJ and MC’s dedication, the combined fundraising effort on behalf of the three agencies now raises more than ten times as much.

MC kept CCJ’s fundraising efforts organized and focused. It helped that MC genuinely enjoyed working with lawyers (and that she knew most of the them!). MC kept CCJ’s lawyer co-chairs on task, readily picking up assignments, including making critical phone calls, whenever necessary. As former co-chair Allen Terrell recalled, “She pushed us with aggressive goals and somehow helped us get there.”

MC believed in CCJ’s mission. Its success is a legacy of which she was proud. MC kept in touch with CCJ’s leadership after her retirement and she celebrated the progress of a fundraising effort that she helped to get off the ground.

MC’s CCJ “family” mourns her loss and fondly remembers her for her patient guidance, tenacious service and professional dedication to equal justice for all.

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