15 Facts About Mary Calderone

1.

In 1953, Mary Calderone became the first female medical director of Planned Parenthood.

2.

In 1960, when the FDA approved the first oral contraceptive, Dr Mary Calderone began lobbying the American Medical Association to endorse contraception as part of standard medical practice.

3.

Mary Calderone retired from SIECUS in 1982, at the age of 78.

4.

Mary Calderone was born in New York, New York on July 1,1904, as Mary Rose Steichen, the first child of Edward Steichen, a famous Luxembourgish-American photographer and artist, and his first wife, Clara Emma Smith, an American singer.

5.

Mary Calderone's younger sister, Charlotte "Kate" Rodina Steichen, was born in Paris on May 27,1908.

6.

When Mary Calderone was six, for instance, she berated family friend and sculptor, Constantin Brancusi, for his horizontal-headed bird pieces, which would undoubtedly hinder the bird from singing.

7.

Mary Calderone decided to go into theatre and studied for three years at the American Laboratory Theatre.

8.

In 1926, Calderone married actor W Lon Martin and had two daughters, Nell and Linda.

9.

Frank Mary Calderone was then the head of the Lower East Side District Health Center, and after serving as the first deputy health commissioner of New York City from 1943 to 1946, became a leading figure in the World Health Organization during its formative years.

10.

Dr Mary Calderone worked as a physician in the Great Neck, New York public school system from 1949 to 1953.

11.

Dr Mary Calderone was instrumental in moving birth control into the mainstream of American medicine.

12.

Mary Calderone continued to be a frequent and popular lecturer and was the recipient of numerous professional and humanitarian awards.

13.

Dr Mary Calderone was a resident of Kendal at Longwood, a Quaker continuing care retirement community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

14.

Mary Calderone died in the skilled nursing facility there on October 24,1998.

15.

Dr Mary Calderone has received numerous awards and honors both posthumously and over the course of her life.