Sister Mary Mercedes Eisenman, 89, the first Sister of Mercy in New Jersey to receive the title of “Doctor of Theology,” died Saturday, Sept. 4 at McAuley Hall Health Care Center in Watchung, N.J.
Born in Bridgeport, Conn., she entered the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas from Sacred Heart Parish in 1942. For 35 years, she taught Latin, religion and psychology at Mount Saint Mary Academy. She was also an adjunct professor of philosophy and theology at Georgian Court College and Mount Saint Mary Junior College for 37 years.
She retired from teaching in 1991, and assumed the position of assistant to the development director until 2001. She continued to volunteer at the Academy until 2006.
She is survived by her sister-in-law, Lillian Eisenman; her nieces, Barbara Eisenman (Jurczak), Jeanne Eisenman (Garza), Norma Eisenman (Savarino), Mary Simmons (Rottblatt); her nephews Karl, Paul, Richard, Robert, and Scott Eisenman, David and John Simmons; and several grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Sept. 8 at Immaculate Conception Chapel, Mount Saint Mary, Watchung, NJ. Burial was in Holy Redeemer Cemetery, South Plainfield.