Anne Rankin Mahoney

Anne Rankin Mahoney died peacefully on September 19, 2025, with her husband and children at her side. She grew up in Linesville and Meadville, in Western Pennsylvania, before earning her B.A. in Sociology and English from Kent State University, her M.A. in Sociology at Northwestern University, and her Ph.D. in Sociology at Columbia University. As Director of Research for the Vera Institute’s Manhattan Bail Project in 1961-63, her work was foundational for bail reform efforts in the U.S. While in New York she was also a sociology lecturer at Brooklyn College and Hunter College of the City University of New York.

Anne was a feminist and a proud trailblazer as a woman in academia. She taught for 33 years at the University of Denver and received the Distinguished Teacher Award in 1987. Her teaching and research focused on family, gender, changing family structures, women's studies, aging, crime and delinquency, and law and society. She served on departmental and university committees and task forces on curriculum, planning, governance, and personnel. She advocated for the creation of a Women's Studies program and was Director of Women's studies from 1992-95. In 1995, she attended the International Forum on Women in Beijing, China, pursuant to a D.U. research grant. She was named Professor Emeritus in 2006. Anne also earned an additional M.S.S. in Applied Communications (Writing) during her career at D.U.

An avid and prolific writer of prose and poetry throughout her life, Anne published poems in the Christian Science Monitor and the Village Voice in addition to books and articles about criminal and juvenile justice, bail reform, marriage and family, and travel. Books include Moments: Poems by Anne Rankin Mahoney (2025), Both Career and Love: A Woman's Memoir, 1959-1973 (2021), Couples, Gender, and Power: Creating Change in Intimate Relationships (2009; with Carmen Knudson-Martin), and Juvenile Justice in Context (1987). She has been an active member of the Lighthouse Writers' Program in Denver and the First Universalist Church of Denver. She is survived by her husband Barry Mahoney, her children Katherine and Michael, and her three grandchildren Maya, Sofia, and Audrey. Anne cared for others immensely and was deeply loved by her family and friends. She will be greatly missed.