Lucille Maurer (1922-1996)
MSA SC 3520-1557

Biography:

Born in New York, New York on November 21, 1922; raised in Rockland County, New York.  Attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, B.A. Economics, 1942.  Masters in General Studies, Yale University, 1945.  Honorary Doctor of Humanities, Hood College, 1984.  Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Maryland University College, 1990.  Married to Ely Maurer, an Assistant Legal Adviser in the U.S. Department of State; three sons:  Stephen, Russell, and Edward.  Died June 19, 1996.

First elected in January 1987 and re-elected in 1991 and 1995, Lucille Maurer was the first woman to serve as treasurer of Maryland.  She was the twenty-first state treasurer since the constitution of 1851 combined the treasurers of the Western and Eastern Shores into one officer selected by the General Assembly.  As treasurer, she also was a member of the board of public works, the first woman to serve on Maryland's highest administrative council.  Ms. Maurer retired in January 1996 for health reasons.

A resident of Montgomery County since 1950, Treasurer Maurer served in the House of Delegates from 1969 to 1987.  She was a member of the Ways and Means Committee for sixteen years and chaired the Joint Committee on Federal Relations for four years.  She was also vice chair of the Maryland State Pension and Retirement Systems.  In the legislature, she became known for her experience in developing funding formulas for the public schools and for her leadership in fiscal affairs.

During her years in the legislature, Ms. Maurer was active in the National Conference of State Legislatures, chairing the Education Committee (1979-80) and the Tax and Trade Committee (1985-86).  From 1980 to 1982, she served on the Intergovernmental Advisory Council of the U.S. Department of Education as a presidential appointee.

After graduation from college in the early 1940s, Ms. Maurer worked for the U.S. Tariff Commission as an economist.  Between 1960 and 1968 she was elected twice to the Montgomery County Board of Education, and served simultaneously as a Trustee of Montgomery College.  In 1967, she was elected to the Maryland Constitutional Convention and served on its Executive Branch Committee.  She was a delegate to several Democratic Party National Conventions.

Ms. Maurer took an active interest in national professional organizations.  She was a member of the National Association of State Treasurers, serving as President in 1993.  Formerly, she was senior vice president, legislative chair, and chair of the Northeast Regional Conference.  Treasurer Maurer also served on the executive committee of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers and on its State and Federal Cash Management Reform Task Force.  She also held a number of offices and leadership roles in the Women Executives in State Government.

Treasurer Maurer belonged to many community organizations, such as the League of Women Voters and Women Executives in State Government.  She was a board member of the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland College Park, where the Lucille Maurer Leadership Library was founded in her memory.  She received many honors and awards from groups, including the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, Maryland Association of Counties, Maryland Association for Retarded Children, and chapters of the Business and Professional Women, National Organization for Women, and the American Association of University Women.  In 1988, she was awarded the prestigious Louis B. Brandeis Justice in Government Award by the American Jewish Congress.  In 1989, she received the Judge Sarah T. Hughes Award for Distinguished Public Service from Goucher College, and the William G. Baker, Jr., Memorial Fund Award from the University of Baltimore's William Donald Schaefer Center for Public Policy.  She was president of the National Association of State Treasurers in 1993.  In 1994, Treasurer Maurer received the prestigious Jesse Unrah Award from the National Association of State Treasurers, and the Energy Warrior of the Year Award from the Maryland Energy Administration.  In March of 1990, she was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.  In 1996 she was a recipient of the Second Annual Thomas Kennedy Award.  Among many other publications, she was listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Politics, Who's Who of American Women, Foremost Women of the Twentieth Century, and Community Leaders and Noteworthy Americans.

Return to Lucille Maurer's Introductory Page

©Copyright Maryland State Archives