Susette Talarico, a UGA faculty member for three decades, died May 23 following a 17-year bout with breast cancer.
“Susette was not only one of UGA’s best faculty but also one of the university’s finest citizens, and her good works benefited students and faculty colleagues alike,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “She had a strong international reputation in legal and judicial studies and represented UGA well over the course of many years. She will be sorely missed.”
Born in Danbury, Conn., Talarico graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class. She joined the Sisters of Mercy for six years, during which she earned her bachelor’s degree at Diocesan Sisters’ College (St. Joseph’s College). Upon reflection, she chose to leave the convent to pursue a joint master’s and doctoral program in political science at the University of Connecticut, which she completed in 1976.
Following a brief teaching stint at St. Michael’s College in Vermont, Talarico joined the political science faculty at UGA, where she taught from 1977 until retiring in 2006.
Talarico was the Albert Berry Saye Professor of American Government and Constitutional Law, emerita and a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor at UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs.
Talarico is survived by her mother, two siblings, husband, son, 19 nieces and nephews, and 14 fourteen great nieces and nephews.