Fitzie’s story

Fitzie was born in Boston in 1951, the daughter of Margaret Fitzgerald and Dr. Richard Henry Grogan. She was raised in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts with her two younger brothers, Richard Henry and Christopher Jeffrey.

Her formal education was at Tenacre Country Day School, Dana Hall School, Harvard College and the Harvard Business School.

Fitzie was an ice-skater. She once said that from the age of three “Skates were magic, they took me into my own world.” While she enjoyed many sports throughout her life, until college Fitzie focused almost all of her free time on skating. Fitzie was a gifted and beautiful skater, winning many competitions over the years including the New England and Eastern Senior Ladies Figure Skating Championships and ranking third in the United States in the Junior Ladies Division. In addition, she was a United States Figure Skating Association Gold Medalist.

Fitzie had two “fun jobs” as she liked to call them. She worked at Philip Morris, Inc. in New York between college and business school as coordinator of sports promotions, corporate art sponsorships and new product publicity programs. Later she worked at McKinsey Company, Inc. in London during the summer between her two years at business school and then joined the firm’s New York office the following year where from 1978 to 1982 she was an Associate and Engagement Manager. She simply loved McKinsey. “It was sort of a magic kingdom to her,” noted one friend. There was also a pattern of quiet work in areas of concern to her such as healthcare, education and public policy.