Mary M. Alexander | Hospital volunteer, 85

Mary McCormick Alexander, 85, a longtime resident of Center City, died of heart failure Thursday at Pennsylvania Hospital, where she had volunteered for 35 years.

Mrs. Alexander was a 1941 graduate of Germantown High School. She earned an undergraduate degree in medical social work from the former Drexel Institute of Technology in 1945.

Mrs. Alexander was a medical social worker at Philadelphia General Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for a brief period.

She met her husband, internist John Dewey Alexander Jr., at Philadelphia General.

When John Alexander became a member of the staff at Pennsylvania Hospital, Mrs. Alexander joined the hospital's auxiliary and did volunteer work from 1965 until 2000, said her attorney, R. Philip Steinberg.

Her husband died in 2000. The couple had no children.

Mrs. Alexander attended the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia until she became ill. Her father, the Rev. William L. McCormick, was pastor of Holy Trinity Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Surviving are a sister, three nieces, and two nephews.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. 21st St., Philadelphia 19103.

Mrs. Alexander chose cremation; her ashes will be sprinkled in the garden at Pennsylvania Hospital. Donations in her name may be made to her church.