Sister Irene Cody, RSHM, died peacefully at Marymount Convent, Tarrytown, NY, on February 11, 2026. She was 100 years of age and had been a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary for 80 years.
The youngest of three sisters, she was born Dorothy Cody in New York City, NY, on January 5, 1926, to James and Irene McLoughlin Cody.
She received a BA in English from Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY. She attended Fordham University, Bronx, NY, where she earned an MA in Classics/Latin and a PhD in Education/ Psychology and Guidance.
After graduating from the Academy of the Sacred Heart of Mary in Manhattan, Dorothy entered the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary at the RSHM Novitiate in Tarrytown, NY, on September 8, 1943. The following year, she received her religious name, Sr. Irene. She made her first vows on April 11, 1945, in Butler Memorial Chapel, Marymount, Tarrytown, where she later made her final vows on August 27, 1950.
Sr. Irene’s introduction to her many years of ministry in education was as a high school teacher at Marymount, Tarrytown, NY (1945-1950). She taught at Marymount School New York, where she was also the bursar (1950-1959). She taught and was the bursar at Marymount Manhattan College (1959-1966).
Her next assignments were outside of the United States. She was superior and principal at Marymount School, Medellin, Colombia (1966-1968) and then taught at Marymount School, Cuernavaca, Mexico (1968-1969).
Sr. Irene returned to New York to teach once again at Marymount School New York (1969-1970), before becoming Director of Education of the Eastern American Province of the RSHM (1970-1972).
She was a guidance counselor at Sacred Heart of Mary High School, Manhattan, NY (1973-1975) and at Marymount International School, London, England (1975-1976). Sr. Irene spent one year in Rome, Italy, at the RSHM Generalate, working in the Institute’s Communications Office (1976-1977). She returned to the United States to serve in the administration of Sacred Heart of Mary High School, Bronx, NY (1977-1978)
Sr. Irene went to Marymount University, Arlington, VA, in 1978, as Director of Financial Aid. Gradually, as the number of international students grew, more and more of her time was devoted to them. She worked in the admissions department recruiting international students. As the Foreign Student Advisor, she counseled international students while developing programs and additional services for them. In 2018, the university dedicated the Cody Gallery at its Ballston Center in her honor, in recognition of her decades of service to international students. When Sr. Irene retired from active ministry, she remained in Arlington and continued to volunteer with the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, tutoring adults in reading and writing and helping to train new tutors.
After 36 years at Marymount University (1978-2014), she moved to Marymount Convent in Tarrytown, N.Y. She was a member of the Convent community at the time of her death.
Sister Irene is predeceased by her parents and her two sisters, Irene Elizabeth and Mary Louise.
She is survived by her nieces and nephew, Maureen Higgins, Helen Muhlhauser, Tom Higgins, Dorothy Higgins, Ginny Fabiano, numerous grandnieces and grandnephews, and by the members of her RSHM family.
Services will be held at Marymount Convent, 32 Warren Avenue, Tarrytown, NY. Visiting will be on Wednesday, February 18, 4:00 – 7:00 pm, with the Vigil Service at 7:00 pm. Mass of Christian Burial will be on Thursday, February 19, at 10:30 am—burial at Mount Calvary Cemetery, White Plains.
We invite you to join us for the Vigil Service and Mass at Marymount Convent or, if you cannot be with us in Tarrytown, by livestream on our website (rshm-east.org/join-us/mass), where they will be archived.
In lieu of flowers, gifts in her name may be made to Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, 50 Wilson Park Drive, Tarrytown, NY, 10591.