M. 'Mimi' Murray, 56, dietitian

Marianne "Mimi" S. Murray, 56, of Thornton, a dietitian who counseled students at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges, died of breast cancer Tuesday, April 12, at home.

When she gave her annual wellness lectures to Bryn Mawr freshmen, she dressed to underscore her message. Her attire included carrot slippers, broccoli and banana earrings, and a necklace of plastic grapes and orange, lemon and lime slices. The necklace adorned a T-shirt with the logo "All Foods Can Fit."

She wanted to get the students' attention, her husband, Clem Murray, said, and routinely received ovations after she spoke.

Bernadette Chung-Templeton, director of dining services at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges, said, "Mimi's mantra was that all foods, even doughnuts, can be part of a balanced diet."

Mrs. Murray was hired by the combined food service departments at Bryn Mawr and Haverford in 1991 to plan nutritional menus.

Mrs. Murray also counseled student athletes and worked with the colleges' health clinics to advise students with allergies, anemia, diabetes, and other illnesses.

In 2000, she helped establish the Bryn Mawr College Body Image Council. She told The Inquirer that she saw too many young people with eating disorders. "I call it lipo-hysteria," she said.

Mrs. Murray also had a private practice as a nutritional counselor in Thornton.

One of her clients told The Inquirer in 1990 that she had tried dieting groups but preferred the accountability that came from a private consultation. "There's nobody else to hide behind," said the client, who lost 15 pounds.

Mrs. Murray's husband said that in her practice she tried to catch young girls with eating disorders before the problems became too ingrained.

Prior to joining the Bryn Mawr-Haverford staff, Mrs. Murray was a dietitian at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and was an adjunct professor at Widener University's School of Nursing.

A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Mimi Sinopoli earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and biology from the University of Rochester and earned a master's degree in nutrition from Syracuse University.

She and her husband, an Inquirer photographer, met in the ninth grade at Levy Junior High School in Syracuse.

"Lucky for me, we were in algebra and Spanish classes together so I could sit near her and flirt," he said. "As the end of the school year approached and with it the ninth-grade prom, our algebra teacher, Mr. Ciccarelli, blurted out during a test one day, 'So, Murray, have you asked Sinopoli to the prom yet?' I didn't score very well on the test but did manage to summon the courage to ask Mimi to the prom that night at the end of a 21/2-hour phone call."

The couple married in 1979 and moved to Philadelphia in 1980.

A talented athlete, Mrs. Murray broke a gender barrier in 1972 when she joined her high school boys' tennis team, her husband said. She played on the University of Rochester women's tennis team and later competed in the Philadelphia area in U.S. Tennis Association Women's Cup challenges.

In recent years, she became a golf enthusiast. Last summer, the day before her cancer biopsy surgery, she broke 50 for nine holes, shooting a 47. "She was ecstatic," her husband said.

The couple were avid skiers and had taken ballroom dancing lessons for the last three years.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Murray is survived by sons Rich and Greg and a sister, Kathie Sinopoli.

Friends may call from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 14, and from 10 a.m. followed by a funeral at 11 a.m. Friday, April 15, at Elam United Methodist Church, 1073 Smithbridge Rd., Glen Mills.

Donations to fund a nutritional education program in Mrs. Murray's honor may be made to Resources Office, Helfarian Building, Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010.