Mary Peirano

Obituary

Mary Theresa (Brosnahan) Peirano, 84, of Corte Madera, died peacefully on July 17, 2026.

Mary was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Michael and Nora Brosnahan. She was the youngest of four sisters. She made her home in Corte Madera for 45 years.

She married Lawrence Peirano Jr. in 1980 and with him helped raise a large family. A clinical nurse specialist at the San Francisco VA Medical Center for almost 20 years, she spent her career helping veterans through drug treatment. She was a lifelong learner and took up doctoral studies in theology at the School of Applied Theology after she retired. Her faith stayed at the center of her life: she was a longtime parishioner of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mill Valley, and previously was a parishioner at St. Hilary’s in Tiburon. She always had a special devotion to St. Jude, the saint of lost causes.

Mary lit up around people, even on the hardest of days. She loved to communicate and listen. She traveled to Europe many times throughout her youth and adult life. She walked the Camino de Santiago twice. She protested executions and she protested war. To all of us she was the family’s advisor, the one you called first.

She is survived by her children, Theresa Martinez, Katharine Rittenburg, Joseph Peirano, Christina Ramirez, and Daniel Peirano; her grandchildren, Lindsey, Renee, Cassandra, Peter, Anna, Michelle, Alex, Jorge, Angelina, and Sloane; and her great-grandchildren, Jayden, Bentley, Ryder, Brodie, Mack, Oliver, Asher, Oden, and Madeline; her sweetie, Al Dean; her brothers-in-law, Ed Richards and Dick Slaney; and her cousins in Ireland. She was preceded in death by her husband, Lawrence; her sons Lawrence and Michael; her parents; and her sisters Ellen, Julie, and Nora.

Published in the Marin Independent Journal, September 3, 2026.