Mary Lou Balog

Mary Louise Daly Balog, June 1, 1932 – November 7, 2022

Mary Louise Daly Balog, daughter of Viola Shea and Edward J. Daly, passed peacefully on Monday, November 7th, 2022, at her home in Waldwick, NJ.

Born and educated in West Hartford, CT, Mary Lou was a graduate of Marymount College in Tarrytown NY. She left Marymount more than a decade later as a nun, “Mother Anthony,” and vice principal of its junior school. Upon leaving the convent she fell madly in love at first sight with W. Robert Balog at a family wedding. They were married within months and enjoyed nearly fifty years together until Bob’s death in 2020. Their lives and careers took them to Wyckoff, NJ, Tamarac, FL, and after a succession of damaging hurricanes, back to NJ, where they settled in Waldwick with their three cats.

Love of life, brilliance, wisdom, energy, and her incredible ability to listen were Mary Lou’s hallmarks. She enjoyed a fabulous sense of humor; her wonderful laugh drew people of all faiths and persuasions to her. She was passionate and dogged in her commitment to issues of great importance to her and to the world. The time she spent as a teenager in Nuremberg, Germany while her father served as a judge at a Nuremberg war trial, directed the focus of her life’s work: education embraced in a message of love over hate.

She served the Catholic Church faithfully, devotedly, and actively throughout her life, always in numerous religious and lay leadership positions wherever she lived. In Wyckoff, NJ, she was principal of St. Elizabeth’s school and was elected to the town’s Board of Education. In Florida, she was principal of St. Andrew’s K-12 school. Her dedication to her parish and her diocese, particularly in promoting the role of women in Church leadership, resulted in a private audience with Pope John Paul II. Most recently she promoted stewardship and education at the Church of the Nativity in Midland Park.

Mary Lou is predeceased by her parents, her husband Bob, her sister Betty Ann Daly Horton, and her brother Edward J. Daly, Jr. Her numerous Daly, Horton, Quagioroli, and Balog nieces and nephews will miss her wise guidance and joyful engagement. Mary Lou’s presence and love enriched the lives of the Flachs and the Sullivans immeasurably and for them her loss is profound. Manana Kinney adopted Mary Lou as if she were her own mother, providing unsurpassed day-to-day care and genuine love.

Her lifelong lesson as a witness to the documentation of Nazi atrocities at the Nuremberg Trials coupled with the lurid tales of survivors who lived to share the horrors they experienced is simple: CHOOSE LOVE over hate. In memory of this incredible woman, please embrace and live this message. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to charities that you believe support Mary Lou’s life’s passions.