We are saddened to report that Anne Fitzmaurice, 91, of Berkeley, CA, died on March 22, 2026 of heart failure. She was staying with her daughters Maura and Cathleen Daly at the time of her death.
Anne was born on May 22, 1934, in San Francisco, CA, the eldest child of Eugene Fitzmaurice and Edythe Richards. Eugene and Edythe divorced when Anne was five years old; each remarried twice, giving Anne five half-siblings: Catherine (Cate), Michael (deceased), and Maurice Fitzmaurice (deceased), and Richard (deceased) and Jason Laumeister.
Anne graduated from high school in Manhattan Beach, CA. She married for the first time to a Navy recruit after graduation and lived in Florida and Washington D.C., where she worked at the Pentagon. After divorcing her first husband she met and married Robert F. Daly (Bob) in 1958. They had two daughters, Maura (b. 1962) and Cathleen (b. 1965).
Anne and Bob divorced in 1966, and Anne settled first in Palo Alto, CA and then in Berkeley, CA. She worked as a secretary and then, after completing a certificate program at DeAnza College, as a technical writer. Her primary expertise was in documenting health care software.
After retiring at 64, Anne became a world traveler, traveling alone and with family to many destinations. Among her favorites were Paris, where she loved riding public transportation and observing everyday life. She also fiercely loved the Scottish Highlands for their natural beauty and the warmth and generosity of their peoples.
When she wasn’t traveling, Anne pursued a passion for analog black and white photography. She learned how to develop her own photos in a darkroom, and produced exquisite portraits as well as images from natural and urban landscapes. She was also an avid gardener of roses, an accomplished memoirist, and an active follower of Buddhist principles and practices. Finally, and not least, she was deeply committed to social justice. She volunteered for KPFA, Berkeley’s venerable progressive radio station, and for several other peace and justice-oriented causes.
She is deeply missed by her daughters, her son-in-law Mark Collins, her adopted granddaughter Amalia Hanlon-Grady, and her surviving sister Cate Fitzmaurice. Contributions in her memory may be made to KPFA, Spirit Rock, SURJ (Standing Up for Racial Justice), and Hospice East Bay.
