Jean E. Corrigan, former Montgomery County manager and longtime assistant to then-State Rep. Josh Shapiro, has died at 70
Gov. Shapiro said: “We knocked doors together, met our neighbors together, and, after winning, served our community together.”
Jean E. Corrigan, 70, of Roslyn, Montgomery County, retired fleet and operations manager for the Montgomery County Department of Assets and Infrastructure, onetime constituent services representative for then-State Rep. Josh Shapiro, hair salon owner and operator, disability services advocate, and award-winning volunteer, died Saturday, Nov. 22, of non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver at her home.
A lifelong resident of Glenside and nearby Roslyn, Mrs. Corrigan was vice chair of the Abington-Rockledge Democratic Committee from 1995 to 2013, and served as Gov. Shapiro’s constituent service agent when he represented the 153rd Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2004 to 2012.
“Jean was the very first volunteer on my very first campaign,” Shapiro recalled. “We knocked doors together, met our neighbors together, and, after winning, served our community together.”
In addition to breaking down bureaucratic delays and solving all kinds of constituent problems for Shapiro, Mrs. Corrigan doggedly championed fair wages, reproductive freedom, increased funding for special education and disability services, and improved healthcare. Colleagues called her a “super volunteer” and a “campaign mom” because she helped so many candidates win elections.
She hosted visiting campaign workers at her home for years, took charge of distributing lawn signs and sample ballots, and organized other preelection events at her dining room table. She was named the local committee’s Democrat of the Year in 2002 and earned several awards from community service organizations.
“Through that work, I got to see just how much of herself she gave to others,” Shapiro said. “Where there was a need in the community, she worked to address it. When someone needed help, she lent a hand. She made her neighbors’ lives better, and I will forever be grateful for her life of service.”
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In 2001, Mrs. Corrigan ran unsuccessfully for Abington Township commissioner, finishing second among three candidates and losing to a long-entrenched incumbent. In a preelection profile in The Inquirer, she listed “responsible growth” as a top value and “maintain integrity of Abington Township” as a main goal.
“Jean was passionate about serving others,” her family said in a tribute. “She believed that politics and civic activism could make a positive difference in people’s lives.”
At work, Mrs. Corrigan managed Montgomery County’s fleet of vehicles from 2015 to her retirement in 2022. She joined the county’s assets and infrastructure department in 2012 as operations manager for public property and supervised the county’s building services, construction carpenters, project collaboration, and computer-aided design.
She studied beauty science and hair styling in high school, attended the Willow Grove Beauty Academy, and ran her own salon called Shears to You from 1993 to 2001. As a volunteer, she was one-time president of the Abington School District Special Education Parent Advisory Council, copresident of the Abington Junior High School parent-teacher organization, and chair and vice chair of several Abington Township community initiatives.
She raised funds for school events and served on the board of the Abington YMCA. “Jean was selfless, empathetic, blunt, affectionate, caring, plainspoken, honest, and incredibly hard-working,” her family said. “There was no ego, no vanity.”
Jean Elizabeth Fanelli was born Aug. 30, 1955, in Abington Township. She grew up with a brother, Angelo, and graduated from Abington High School in 1973. She was interested in clothing design as well as beauty culture and took classes at Temple University.
After a brief marriage to Bruce Cunningham was annulled, she married Peter Corrigan — an usher at her first wedding — in 1977, and they had sons Joseph and David and a daughter, Pauline. They lived in Glenside for decades, in the same house in which she grew up, and moved to Roslyn a few years ago.
Mrs. Corrigan enjoyed shopping trips with her daughter and baking holiday cookies. She liked to entertain and cook for everybody.
She doted on her two granddaughters and spent memorable summers near Arrowhead Lake in the Pocono Mountains. She could talk to anybody, her family said.
“She was a wonderful mother,” her daughter said. “I learned to have respect and manners from her.”
Her son David said: “She taught me to be considerate and understanding of everyone I encounter, a lesson I will never forget.”
Her son Joseph said: “She was incredibly generous with her time and resources. She could build relationships, and a theme of her life was caring for people.”
Her husband said: “She was one of a kind.”
In addition to her husband, children, granddaughters, and brother, Mrs. Corrigan is survived by other relatives.
A private celebration of her life is to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to Hedwig House Inc., 1920 Old York Rd., Abington, Pa. 19001.