Mary A. Masserini

Mary Anita Masserini July 18, 1926 to September 24, 2020 Mary Anita Masserini, whose professional career spanned 58 years with the United States federal government has died at the age of 94. Ms. Masserini began her federal career in 1948, during the presidency of Harry S. Truman and concluded her service to the nation during the administration of George W. Bush. While Ms. Masserini’s early years as a civil servant were spent at the predecessor of today’s Department of Veterans Affairs, the vast majority of her federal service was with the U. S. Department of State from which she retired in 2006. At State, as a protocol press officer, Ms. Masserini was responsible for foreign press operations tied to the official visits of heads of state, diplomats and other international officials. Well known for her efficient precision in carrying out her diplomatic responsibilities, former Secretary of State George Shultz often admiringly referred to Ms. Masserini as “the general.” Yet it was Ms. Masserini’s endearing personality that truly earned her the admiration of a succession of U.S. Presidents and foreign leaders alike, many of whom she kept in touch with well into her retirement years. Ms. Masserini was born in Waterbury, Connecticut to the late Anita and Igino Masserini, both whom immigrated to the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. Ms. Masserini’s remarkable ascent within in the federal government, and the roles she held, exemplify the ideal of the “American Dream”–that opportunity is available to all in the United States of America. Educated in the school system operated by the Catholic Church of our Lady of Lourdes in Waterbury, where her parents were long-time employees, Ms. Masserini developed fluency in English, Italian, Spanish and French. Ms. Masserini was preceded in death by her mother and father, as well as her twin brother Mario Masserini who died in infancy. She is survived by her close friends Tom and Debbie Wacker of Arlington, Virginia, and their three children, Emma, Joshua and Jeremy; her goddaughter Donna Ives of Scottsdale, Arizona; and hundreds of other friends, colleagues, and admirers she amassed through the years. Funeral arrangements are being conducted by Murphy Funeral Home in Arlington, www.murphyfuneralhomes.com. A mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday, September 28, 2020, at 2:00 PM, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia, with private internment at the Calvary Cemetery in Waterbury, Connecticut at a later date.