In Memoriam: Susan Margaret Claydon, 1923-2020

Margaret Claydon, president emerita of Trinity Washington Univerity, passed away on February 1, 2020, at Mount Notre Dame in Cincinnati. She was 96 years old.

At the age of 36, Sister Claydon was appointed president of Trinity Washington University in 1959. At that time, the current speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi was a student at the university. During Dr. Claydon’s term as president, Trinity experienced dramatic growth in the size of the student body. She expanded integration and diversification of the student body, securing a Carnegie Corporation grant in 1965 for scholarships for students from Washington, D.C. Sister Claydon served as president of the university until 1975. For nearly two decades afterward, she continued to teach English at the university, retiring in 2004.

Dr. Clayton was the first woman president of the college and university department of the National Catholic Education Association. In 1972, she was the only woman delegate in a convening of Catholic college presidents at the Vatican.

A native of New Rochelle, New York, Dr. Claydon graduated from Trinity Washington University in 1945. She joined the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1946. Dr. Claydon held a Ph.D. in English literature from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.