Judith S. Blackburn, former treasurer and chief financial officer of the University of Maryland Foundation and an assistant vice president in the university's development office, died of a stroke Aug. 22 at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y.
She was 74.
Dr. Blackburn, a Homeland resident, was visiting relatives in New York City when she was stricken, said a stepson, David H. Blackburn of Montclair, N.J.
The daughter of John Stewart, president of the Mackenzie Muffler Co., and Jean Stewart, a homemaker, Judith Stewart was born in White Plains, N.Y., and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, where she graduated from Boardman High School.
She was a 1964 magna cum laude graduate of Vassar College and in 1971 earned a doctorate in biomedical physiology from New York University.
In 1989, Dr. Blackburn received a master's degree in business from what is now Loyola University Maryland. Family members noted that she graduated with a perfect grade-point average and was a member of the Jesuit Honor Society while also being a single mother with a full-time job.
She began her career at the University of Maryland in 1979 and played a critical role in developing the university's financial and fundraising operations.
At the time of her retirement in 2013, she was treasurer and chief financial officer of the University of Maryland Foundation and assistant vice president in the university's development office.
Dr. Blackburn had been a member of the board of Friends Research Institute and the Institute for Integrative Health.
She was an avid gardener and a member of the Roland Park Garden Club. She enjoyed attending the opera and theater, playing tennis and reading.
Her husband of 29 years, the Rev. James C. Blackburn, an Episcopal priest who had been a pastoral assistant at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, died in May.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Sept. 24 at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St.
In addition to her stepson, she is survived by a son, Jonathan S. Busky of Brooklyn, N.Y.; two other stepsons, John C. Blackburn of Easley, S.C., and Paul B. Blackburn of Hood River, Ore.; a brother, John M. Stewart of Washougal, Wash.; a sister, Sandy S. Shasby of Iowa City, Iowa; and six grandchildren. An earlier marriage to Dr. Stephen M. Busky ended in divorce.
— Frederick N. Rasmussen