Mary Alice (Rhodes) Sass, 81, departed this earth peacefully on May 2, 2024, in Fremont, CA, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

Born November 17, 1942, in “Little Italy,” New York City to Robert and Arlena Elaine (Harris) Rhodes. Mary was preceded in death by her parents and older twin siblings, her brother Richard Rhodes, and sister Judy Thomas.

Mary graduated high school from the New York City Public Education School System at age 16. She attended New York University and majored in mathematics.  She later received double major AA degrees in Business and Accounting, and Criminal Justice before returning to school to receive an AA in Early Childhood Education.

Mary accepted Christ and was baptized at an early age. She sang in the youth choir, was a junior usher and became a Sunday School teacher as a teenager. When her family moved to Harlem, Mary joined St. Matthew’s Baptist Church. There she continued her activities in the church and met her future husband, Charles Sass, the Pastor’s son.

Mary began working at the age of 8, as a paper girl, for the New York Times. As a young adult, she worked at New York life Insurance company, the Wall Street New York Post Office and as a hand model for magazines.

In 1965 Mary moved to Atwater CA with her new husband and they welcomed their daughter Cynthia in October of 1966. Mary worked as a L.V.N. at Merced County Hospital before the couple moved to Fremont, CA in 1968 and welcomed their son Russell in 1969. Mary was reinstated as a post office employee and worked at the city's Main Post Office. And as a young working mother, Mary took positions to teach Arts & Crafts at Ohlone College in the evening and at King Norman’s Craft and Hobby Store during the day.

Mary used her education to create and lead a committee that developed and submitted a plan, then petitioned the California State Department of Education for construction of a new school where her family lived. The new school would replace the current school, Alviso Elementary, which was scheduled to be condemned. The plan was approved and two years later, Warwick Elementary School was built. Mary, the committee and the first Black Principal in the city then ensured Warwick became an accredited Early Childhood Education school. Mary worked at Warwick as the liaison between the community, school, teachers and students, a substitute teacher, and training the teacher’s paid aides. She also started a math lab as well as the first after school tutorial studies program at the school.

Mary eventually left the post office and school district for a careers in accounting and retail sales. She was an accounting manager and bookkeeper for several churches and restaurants in Oakland. And in 1980, she became the first Black manager for “Ardan’s” department store in one of 150 stores in the U.S.. She continued working at Ardan’s until the business was purchased and the stores closed. But while she was there, Mary singlehandedly employed many of the communities’ youth and taught them the “soft skills” of the employment world which are often overlooked. The skill that are transferrable to ANY professional or personal relationship, - integrity, kindness, authenticity, mentorship, commitment, and responsible leadership, to name a few.

Mary's last 20 working years were with the NAACP as the Fremont Youth Advisor, the very first California State Youth Advisor, and the Region 1 Youth Advisor, which consisted of the seven western states (WA, ID, OR, CA, NV, AZ, UT), HI, AL, and two countries, including Japan. By the time Mary retired from the NAACP, she was working in all these capacities and on the NAACP National Youth Work Committee as the Region 1 Youth Advisor all at the same time! Mary was blessed to work side by side with such notable people as Myrlie Evers, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, and Julian Bond and Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). In fact, the SPLC awarded Mary the 1st Rosa Parks Wall of Tolerance mention; her name was the first to appear on the Wall of Tolerance.

Mary loved living life to the fullest. She loved fashion, shopping, doing crafts, reading, traveling, entertaining, working with children, and as she liked to say, “doing for” her family, friends and others. She leaves a legacy of transformational impact on the youth and communities she touched.

Mary leaves to cherish her memory her daughter Cynthia Sass, her son Russell Sass (Gina), her grandchildren, Marcus and Cierra Sass and a host of extended family and friends.