Marguerite Mary Schwartz

A devoted daughter, mother, grandmother, sister, cousin, and friend, Marguerite was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on September 20, 1956, to the late John T. Brennan and Margaret Connolly Brennan. She was raised in a large, loud, loving Irish-American family alongside six siblings and 42 first cousins, a family she cherished throughout her life.

A proud graduate of Saint Dominic Academy in Jersey City, Marguerite attended respiratory therapy school and built a career spanning more than 30 years in healthcare. She was a manager at Christ Hospital in Jersey City before relocating to Ocean County, where she worked at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital in Toms River and later with several pulmonologists performing pulmonary function testing. With both her patients and her colleagues, she was known for her compassion, kindness, and unmistakable sense of humor.

Her proudest role was being a mother. She was endlessly proud of her children, Maura Power (Colin), Leanna Calandra (Keith), and Steven Schwartz, and never missed an opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments.

She was predeceased by her loving husband of 27 years, Robert Schwartz.

In recent years, becoming Grandmom brought her immeasurable joy. She adored Fiona Power, Cillian Power, and Kennedy Calandra and eagerly anticipated the arrival of her newest granddaughter, due in September, to Leanna and Keith.

Known to many friends as Margo, she was warm, trusting, loyal, and wonderfully outgoing. She could strike up a conversation with anyone, offer a compliment without hesitation, or wander off on a tangent to a story that always seemed worth hearing. Her generous spirit, infectious personality, and larger-than-life presence (and voice) left an impression wherever she went.

She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.

Marguerite is survived by her children, Maura Power (Colin), Leanna Calandra (Keith), and Steven Schwartz; her grandchildren, Fiona Power, Cillian Power, and Kennedy Calandra; her siblings, Gregory Brennan (Ellen), Kathleen Barrett (Thomas), Laurene Lally (the late Thomas), Denise Brennan, Maura Franconeri (John), and Thomas Foley (Sheila); and countless cherished cousins, nieces, nephews, neighbors, and dear friends.

Flowers are welcome, or memorial donations may be made in Marguerite's memory to the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House at https://www.rmhcphilly.org/donate.

A visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 from 10:30am-11:30am at St. Mary of the PInes Catholic Church, a Mass will follow at 11:30am at the church.

To leave online condolences and fond memories of Marguerite for the family, please visit www.shinnfuneralhome.com

Thos L. Shinn Funeral Home, 10 Hilliard Dr., Manahawkin, NJ was entrusted with the arrangements.