Madeline McWhinney Dale, a long time resident of Middletown, Little Silver and Manhattan passed away on June 19th. She was a trailblazer for women in the banking industry. Madeline was the first female Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank, the President of The First Women’s Bank and held numerous other leadership roles across a variety of fields during her long career.
Madeline was born in Denver, CO in 1922 and is the oldest of seven children. After attending Graland Country Day School in Denver, founded by her father Leroy McWhinney, she went on to boarding school at Sandia School in Albuquerque, NM. She then came East to attend Smith College to pursue her ambition of entering the banking industry. She had wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father, an attorney and banker in Denver, who she lost tragically to a car accident when she was only 17. After graduating in 1943 Magna Cum Laude with an Economics degree, she went on to earn an MBA at NYU in 1947. She remained committed to NYU after graduating, completing additional coursework toward a PhD, serving as a visiting lecturer, member of the Advisory Board and President of the Alumni Association. She received the Meritorious Alumni Award in 1962 and was named “Man of the Year” in 1971. At NYU, she met her husband, John D. Dale, a management consultant and concert cellist, while he was completing his PhD. They married in 1961 and had one son. She is survived by her son Tom of Darien CT, his wife Lisa and her four grandchildren, Thomas Jr, William, Henry and Elizabeth, as well as her stepson, John Dale Jr and wife Clara of Middletown and Manhattan.