Mary Lou Crowley, 92, of Fayetteville, died in Syracuse on October 24, 2020. Born in Syracuse on August 15, 1928, she was the only child of Melvin J. and Lillian Louise Kiefer. After being educated in the Syracuse public schools, in 1949 she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University, where she was admitted to Phi Betta Kappa in her junior year. She was awarded a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University in 1951; there she was the top student in her class.

For 54 years she served as confidential law clerk to a variety of judges in the New York Court System; among them were Chief Judge Edmund H. Lewis and Associate Judge Hugh R. Jones of the Court of Appeals, Appellate Division Justice Frank DelVechio and Supreme Court Justices Parker Stone, Thomas Aloi and William R. Roy. She was an adjunct professor at Syracuse College of Law for more than 20 years, teaching the course on New York Pleading and Practice. In 1989 she received the College’s Distinguished Service Award. For several years she taught classes in the Office of Court Administration’s program mandated for judges of town and village courts.

In 1984 she received a degree of Doctor of Civil Law honoris causa from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.

Mrs. Crowley was named the Post Standard Woman of Distinction in Careers in 1970 and in 2001 was designated the Distinguished Lawyer of that year by the Onondaga County Bar Association, the first woman to be so named.

While a resident of North Syracuse she was a member of the North Syracuse Board of Education for 10 years. For a number of years she served as a reader at WCNY’s Readout Program for the visually handicapped.

She was a member of the American, New York State and Onondaga County Bar Associations and had been admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. She was a member of the American Law Institute.

A lifelong Episcopalian, she has held responsible positions in her local parishes, the Diocese of Central New York and the National Episcopal Church, serving as warden and vestryperson, president of the Diocesan Standing Committee and Deputy to 7 General Conventions of the National Church, where she was chairman of the Constitution Committee and a member of several committees and commissions.

She was predeceased by her husband, attorney Ronald J. Crowley, in 2004. Surviving are their children, David E. (Suzanne) Crowley and Lisa A. Crowley; five grandchildren, Sarah (Jeremy) Born, Kevin Crowley, Shannon (Justin) Knapp, Jonathan Crowley and Nicole Stoddard (Richard Wagner); and eight great-grandchildren, Naja Knapp, Justin Knapp, Jr., Annastasia Knapp, Hunter Losey, Lillyana Hartman, Lucas Born, Madeline Born, and Aven Wagner.

In the hope that their gifts may lead to the discovery of some treatment that will provide life for ill children, the bodies of both Mary Lou and Ronald Crowley have been given to the Anatomical Gift Program of Upstate Medical University.

A memorial service in celebration of Mary Lou Crowley’s life will be held at 10:00 am on Sunday, August 13, 2023 at St. David’s Episcopal Church, 14 Jamar Drive, Fayetteville.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to St. David’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 261, DeWitt, NY 13214 or to a favorite charity.