The faculty, staff, students and alumni of the University Of Maryland School Of Social Work mourn the loss of Patricia Breslin Modell.  Pat was a social worker in heart and spirit, a generous donor, and a woman of dizzying complexity. Wise, fiery, intense in her compassion and empathy – she never turned away from problems that would have been so easy for her to ignore. Pat was committed and determined to end the violence against women and their children and to help them rebuild their lives.  A dear friend of the School and of every survivor of domestic violence, Pat engaged and involved herself in the lives of men, women and children from every walk of life.  To her family, friends, and those in need, she heaped love, kindness and care in equal measure, applied with steely determination.   

The depth of Pat’s kindness and generosity cannot be measured solely through the generous contributions that the Modell’s gave to dozens of Maryland charities, or her years as the striking actress with twinkling eyes seen on screen, on Broadway’s stages and even Baltimore stages of her creation.  Pat’s enlightened leadership, often from behind the scenes, made so many things possible, including the launch last year of The Patricia and Arthur Modell Symposium on Domestic Violence, still in its infancy, but holding promise of so much more on behalf of battered women and their children.

We join Art, their sons, David and John, the Modell family and their friends, along with the many organizations Pat helped build, in gratitude and appreciation of her extraordinary contributions to Baltimore, its women, its children and its future.

Patricia Modell celebrates the first Modell Symposium on Domestic Violence in October, 2010, together with Carole Alexander (left), Clinical Faculty, School of Social Work, and former Director, House of Ruth Maryland, and the School’s Dean, Richard Barth.