Frances Cotter Staniloff Scholarship

Frances Cotter Staniloff, the daughter of Bartholomew and Nora Cotter, was born in 1921. She was raised in Wakefield and graduated from Wakefield High School in 1939. After graduating from Bryant and Stratton in Boston, she was employed as an executive secretary for corporations in New England, New York, and New Jersey. Fran settled in Hackensack, NJ, with the love of her life, Seldon Staniloff. They created a partnership managing and restoring residential properties, as well as cruising domestic and international waters as avid sailors. Fran was devoted to the performing arts; she actively supported ballet, music, and theater groups. She loved to travel and read, gave to many charities, and volunteered her time in hospitals in New Jersey and Florida. Fran was cherished as a beloved aunt, great-aunt, and great-great-aunt by a large family whose lives were touched by her warmth, wit, and luminous spirit. Fran died while living in Florida in 2013. This scholarship is being funded by her relatives. The fund has a stated preference for a student studying the arts.