Marta Baez '65

Throughout her professional career, Marta Baez ’65 has always remembered the attitude she learned at Cathedral: “You can do it. That was the message,” she said.

Marta grew up in Washington Heights and attended Incarnation School. At Cathedral, the math and the science classes were always her favorite, and she found the school provided a supportive learning environment.

At Queens College, Marta earned a degree in Home Economics with a specialty in Nutrition.  She became a registered dietician, and she worked in public health for 35 years.

Early in her career, she worked at Martin Luther King Health Center as a WIC Coordinator and then went on to work at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she coordinated the breastfeeding promotion program.

Marta also worked with the New York State Department of Health to develop community-based perinatal networks, designed to address infant mortality rates. “In the early 1980s, parts of the city had infant mortality rates as bad as some underdeveloped countries,” said Marta. The project coordinated partnerships that served to identify women in need of care, to educate expectant mothers, and to work with organizations and community members. As a director, she managed the Family Health Unit for the New York State Department of Health’s regional office. Marta has also taught courses at Long Island University.

In 2000, when she was preparing to have major surgery, Marta was advised to arrange her finances as a precaution. While she says that she had always considered making an arrangement for a planned gift to Cathedral, she suddenly had some important decisions to make. She wasn’t sure what she would do. So, she decided that there was only one thing to do: pray.

Marta recalls that around that time the Archbishop of New York had just passed away. While riding the bus, a woman started making conversation with Marta, and she mentioned that she had just attended the viewing for the Archbishop. Through the course of the conversation, the woman also mentioned that she had attended Cathedral High School.

“Cathedral saved my life,” the woman told Marta. The woman shared some of the life struggles she had experienced, including drug addiction. They talked about their memories of the school.

By the time she arrived at home, Marta’s mind was made up. “Cathedral really gives young women not only an education but also a value system to fall back on. Even in times of trouble or challenges, that is what stays with you,” said Marta.

 Looking at her own life’s trajectory, she says that she has been able to rely on the important life lessons learned through her Cathedral experience. Marta’s decision to give back to Cathedral also honors her desire to support both the academic and religious missions of the school.

“I decided to give back to Cathedral because I had a very solid education. It’s almost what I would call a classical education. That has stood me very well. Cathedral also reinforced my mother’s values,” she said. “If you need to know a chemical number on the periodic table, you can look it up; if you need to know a formula, you can look it up; but the value system is what stays. It’s not only the right or the wrong – it is looking at life in its entirety. What is important and what really isn’t.”

Thinking about the lessons learned at Cathedral has helped her to remember to put her best foot forward. “Mediocrity was discouraged. Those are the values that have followed me over time. You had to do the work; you had to do it neatly; and you had to really pay attention. Things mattered: the quality of the work mattered; how you looked mattered; how you presented yourself mattered. I think that, more than even the coursework, served me well later on as I progressed through my career,” said Marta.

Cathedral was an important touchstone for Marta. Her planned gift will help to provide a similarly enriching experience for Cathedral’s young women. “I gave to Cathedral because I wanted to give young women an environment in which they can excel, where they have the opportunity to be exposed to tough teachers, where they have an opportunity that they’re not going to have in other places, and where they will be able to do that in a safe environment,” said Marta.