Dr. Mary Dowd of Needham passed away peacefully on December 10, 2020 at the age of 95. She was predeceased by her husband of 45 years, Dr. Joseph B. Dowd, Sr. (1999). She was born on May 17, 1925 in New Haven, CT to Marie (Peters) and Dr. Francis Foley. She is an alumna of Regis College (1945). After earning a master’s degree in biology from Yale, she graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine (1951). She completed an internal medicine residency at Boston City Hospital, and while raising a family in Needham, she worked as a physician for Boston Edison, Boston University Student Health, and New England Telephone.
She is survived by her children, Dr. Christopher F. Dowd and his wife Dawn of San Francisco, CA; Martha Kanter and her husband David of Clarendon Hills, IL; and Joseph B. Dowd Jr. and his wife Tiffany of Westwood, MA. She was a devoted grandmother to Ted Owens; Tim, Mike, and Julie Kanter; and Christopher (CJ) and Madeleine Dowd. She leaves many loving nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister Thérèse, by her brother Joseph, and by her Aunt Ella Peters who raised her.
A Mass of Christian Burial at St. Bartholomew Church in Needham, arranged by the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, will be celebrated privately due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy can be made as donations to Catholic Charities of Boston in Mary’s memory.