Year Honored: 2008
Birth: 1947 - 2007
Born in: Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Biography
Christine Margaret McDermott moved frequently as a child, as her father was a Colonel in the U.S Army. Born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, McDermott also lived in California and Tokyo before settling in New Castle, Delaware where she attended A.I DuPont High School. She then attended Dickinson School of Law and shortly after graduating started work as a Civil Attorney.
McDermott continued in the legal field as the assistant city solicitor for the City of Wilmington and then as chief prosecutor for the Wilmington Municipal Court. A large part of her legal career was dedicated to aiding victims of child abuse and domestic violence. In 1976 she was appointed the executive director of the Delaware Criminal Justice Planning Commission, the state arm for the federal law enforcement assistance program. She sat on a number of other task forces in the legal field as well, including the Governor’s Council on Correction (1981); as chair of the Advisory Committee to the Delaware Family Violence Program; and the executive director of the Delaware Council on Crime and Justice, originally a prisoner’s aid program but was expanded to include system advocacy and victims’ rights.
In 1982, McDermott began lecturing at UD as an adjunct professor of Criminal Justice for the Sociology Department. She left the role in 1988, in order to become an associate professor at Widener School of Law, where she taught until 2004. McDermott also taught Comparative Issues in Gender Violence at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, before retiring and moving to North Carolina. There, she taught part time at Randolph Community College, though she came out of retirement to serve as Executive Director at the Randolph Family Crisis Center until 2007.
McDermott received the Women’s Leadership Award from the Delaware State Bar Association in 1999. She was also part of the pro bono arm of the Delaware Bar Association, Delaware Volunteer Legal Services; on the board of the New Castle County YWCA from 1979 until 1985; a member of the Presbyterian Church; and a singer in numerous choirs.
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Sources and Additional Readings
Christine McDermott Obituary (2007) The News Journal. Legacy.com. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/delawareonline/name/christine-mcdermott-obituary?pid=145578364
- Collections: 2008