Maeve Hillery

Who is Maeve Hillery?

Mary Beatrice Hillery is a retired Irish doctor who is the widow of Patrick Hillery, President of Ireland from 1976 to 1990.

Maeve Finnegan was educated at University College Dublin where she studied medicine. It was here that she met her future husband, Patrick Hillery, who was also studying medicine. The couple married on 27 October 1955. Together they had a son, John, and a daughter, Vivienne, who died after a long illness in 1985, shortly before her eighteenth birthday. Patrick Hillery later served in a number of political roles, including Foreign Minister and European Commissioner. After the completion of is term as EC Commissioner in 1976 he contemplated leaving politics and returning to medicine. Instead, Hillery was asked to become the sixth President of Ireland. Patrick Hillery died on 12 April 2008.