Eleanor Maragliano, CSJP (1928-2024)

Eleanor was born on September 12, 1928, in Tenafly, New Jersey, the tenth and last child of Fortunato and Rosa (Morando) Maragliano. In her written reflections on her seventieth anniversary as a woman religious, she credited her large family as opening her “life to the warmth of their love and to the very real presence of God in our lives.”

Following in her older sister Judith’s footsteps, Eleanor entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace at St. Michael Novitiate, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on July 31, 1948. She pronounced final vows there on August 22, 1954.

Sister Eleanor earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Education from Seton Hall University, Southern Orange, New Jersey, as well as a Master of Arts in Human Development from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, New Jersey. She taught at various schools in the Archdiocese of Newark, the Diocese of Camden, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the Diocese of Wheeling. Over the years, Sister Eleanor also served the Congregation in Province Leadership and as an administrator of Villa Marie Claire in Saddle River, New Jersey.

After a sabbatical in 1979, Sister Eleanor settled in New York City and began her ministry with people experiencing poverty. She worked with Greenhope Services for Women, an organization that helps formerly incarcerated women transition into their communities. Later, she became an advocate for women in the Brooklyn Courts and at the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers Island, a prison island in the Bronx. After that, Sister Eleanor worked at the Valley Lodge Shelter and founded Our Lady of Refuge Thrift Shop, which she ran for over two decades.  

A few years after her retirement, Sister Eleanor moved back across the Hudson River to live with her CSJP sisters, first to Jersey City, New Jersey, and then to Englewood Cliffs. Sister Eleanor enjoyed her time with CSJP sisters of all ages and had a deep faith and hope for the future of religious life and the Congregation.

Sister Eleanor died peacefully at St. Michael Villa on January 14, 2024. She was predeceased by brothers, Andrew, Carlo, Angelo, and Edward, and sisters, Josephine Amicucci, Sister Judith Maragliano, CSJP, Emma Rossettini, Teresa “Dolly” Maragliano, and Nina Benzoni. She is survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

A combined wake service and Liturgy of Christian burial was held on January 19, 2024, at St. Michael Villa, followed by burial at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, New Jersey.

She will be remembered for her feisty spirit, love for God’s people and all creation, and for her dreamer’s heart.