Maryann Mahaffey was born in Burlington, Iowa

Burlington, Iowa

Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,663 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in the 2000 census. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area including West Burlington, Iowa and Middletown, Iowa and...

. She served on the Detroit City Council from 1973 until 2005, from 1990 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2005 as council president. She died on July 27, 2006 from leukaemia, aged 81.

She was a Professor Emerita at the School of Social Work at Wayne State University

Wayne State University

Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...

 in Detroit, where she taught from 1965 to 1990. She had an undergraduate degree from Cornell College

Cornell College

Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally called the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by Reverend Samuel M. Fellows...

 in Iowa and an MSW

MSW

-Computers:*Microsoft Windows, an operating system*Machine Status Word, a data segment in the LOADALL instruction set for Intel 286 processors*Microsoft Office Word, a proprietary word processor-Science and Engineering:...

 from the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

.