Marsha Ann Friberg Shinkman

Marsha Friberg Shinkman, a former senior administrator at Stanford University and George Washington University, died early Monday, March 19 in her home in Bethesda, Md. at age 69 of complications from Type 1 diabetes.

Mrs. Shinkman, a native of Jamestown, N.Y., began her 47-year career in education as an elementary school teacher at public schools in Mount Lebanon, Pa. and Lansing, N.Y. She went on to work as public relations director at the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Conn. and director of the Public Schools Cultural Council in the same town.

At Stanford University, she served as director of the Music Guild and in the Office of Development, and later as an assistant director of Stanford-in-Washington, the university's student program in Washington, D.C. She was co-chair of the D.C.-area Stanford Parents Committee when then-President Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea decided to enroll at the university. One thing the Clintons could expect of separating from their daughter, she told USA Today in 1997: “Their phone bill will definitely go up.”

From Stanford she went on to roles as Alumni Director at the George Washington University law school and then as Associate Director of Webster University's campus at Bolling Air Force Base.

Mrs. Shinkman received a bachelor’s degree in English in June 1965 from Thiel College in Greenville, Pa., where she met her future husband, Christopher J. Shinkman, also a student. They married in August that same year. She earned her master’s degree in English from Trinity College, Conn.

She was a 25-year member of the Church of Epiphany in downtown D.C., where she served on the vestry. She was an active DC volunteer, supporting the Shakespeare Theatre, Kennedy Center, and the National Cathedral.

Her funeral will take place at the Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW in Washington D.C., at 10:00am on March 31st, 2012. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (www.jdrf.org).

She is survived by her husband, Christopher Shinkman; mother, Ebba Friberg of Jamestown, N.Y.; two children, Matthew Shinkman of Oakton Va. and Elizabeth A. Carter of Takoma Park, Md.; four grandchildren, John Shinkman, Ebba Shinkman, Benjamin Carter and Brett Carter; and sister Kathleen Anderson of Wilmette, Il.