Marianne Tracey Obituary

Tracey Marianne Marianne passed away on January 11, 2022. She was 79 years old. She had retired as Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Center of Excellence for the Mental health treatment of persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders of UMDNJ-SOM (later Rowan University-SOM) in 2009. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, daughter of the late Arthur and Isabelle Tracey on June 2, 1942. She has been a resident of Newtown for the past 40 years. Dr. Tracey graduated from Cathedral High School, Trenton, New Jersey in 1959, from Manor College with an A.D. in 1961 and Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Education in 1963, from the College of New Jersey with an M.A. in 1969 and Columbia University with her Ed.D. in 2002. In addition to her professional education, she pursued many other interests. She attended Simca Cuisine School in France in 1982 and New York Cooking School in 1983 and for a number of years was the owner and operator of the Newtown Cheese Shop. In her spare time, she enjoyed travel and visited many interesting places throughout the world. Dr. Tracey was Assistant Director for the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services. In 1981, she became the Superintendent of the Edison Development Center for the Developmental Disabled/Behavioral Males. In this capacity, she determined that what appeared to be "behavioral problems" in this population, were in fact often symptoms of genetic, neurological, endocrinologic and psychiatric disorders, a radical idea for that time (this is now called Dual Diagnosis). She began working on creating a medical and psychiatric liaison service with what was then the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). In 1988, she succeeded in creating, and becoming Administrative Director of, what grew under her leadership to become the Center of Excellence for the Mental Health Treatment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders of UMDNJ-SOM (later Rowan University-SOM), which for 30 years provided psychiatric consultation to New Jersey's Development Centers and outpatient services to persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders, based not on behavioral problems but upon psychiatric diagnosis, a pioneering approach at that time. The clinic served patients of all ages and in all living situations in the seven southern counties of New Jersey; its successor organization continues to serve outpatients. Sister of the late Suzanne Zamerowski and the late Eileen Ziegler. She is survived by nephew, Tommy Zamerowski, niece Tracey Brook Ziegler, nephew Scott Ziegler, brother-in-law, Jeffrey Ziegler, dear friends Peter Vitelli, Angela Sinatra, Tony and Isabel Godwin and many other friends, co-workers and neighbors. A Funeral Service (Mass) will be held at St. Andrews Catholic Church, Swamp Road, Newtown, PA on Friday, the 22nd day of July, 2022. In lieu of flowers, Mass cards would be appreciated or charitable donations to the Poor Clares of the Franciscan Monastery of Saint Clare, 1271 Langhorne Newtown Road, Langhorne, PA 19047. www.swartzgivnish.com/obituaries