Early life and family
Mary Calderone was born in New York, New York on July 1, 1904, as Mary Rose Steichen, the first child of Edward Steichen, a renowned Luxembourgish-American photographer and artist, and his first wife, Clara Emma Smith, an American singer. Following her birth, the Steichen family relocated to Paris, France, and then later to Voulangis, France, a small farming village approximately 32 km east of Paris. Her younger sister, Charlotte "Kate" Rodina Steichen, was born in Paris on May 27, 1908.
While in Voulangis, the family frequently received visits from various artists and colleagues of Edward Steichen, including Constantin Brâncuși, Auguste Rodin, Isadora Duncan, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. Biographer Jeffrey Moran suggests that Mary's upbringing in a bohemian environment, with her well-known father, her uncle, the poet Carl Sandburg, and Quaker background played a role in shaping her liberal perspective on sex and her passionate nature. For instance, at the age of six, she expressed her opinions about Constantin Brâncuși's sculptures, particularly his horizontal-headed bird pieces, which she believed would hinder the birds from singing. Brâncuși subsequently adjusted his artistic approach.
When the First World War began in 1914, the family fled to New York. Calderone's parents separated soon after and sent Mary to live in New York City at the home of their friends, Dr. Leopold and Elizabeth Stieglitz, brother and sister-in-law of Steichen's friend and photography colleague, Alfred Stieglitz. Calderone's interest in medicine began as she accompanied Leonard Stieglitz on his hospital rounds.
While in New York, Calderone attended the Brearley School for her secondary education. She then matriculated at Vassar College, earning her A.B. in Chemistry in 1925. Initially, she pursued a career in theater and studied at the American Laboratory Theatre for three years. Notably, she served as the model for the figures on the Pratt Institute flagpole, a bronze sculpture created by her uncle, Willard Dryden Paddock, and erected in 1926 to commemorate the soldiers who served in World War I.
In 1926, Calderone married actor W. Lon Martin and had two daughters, Nell (1926) and Linda (1928). With her marriage declining, she abandoned her acting career and divorced in 1933. Tragically, in 1935, her eight-year-old daughter Nell succumbed to pneumonia, which, along with her unrealized acting aspirations and divorce, led Calderone into a period of depression. After an in-depth series of aptitude tests at the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation in New York, at age 30, she decided to return to education and pursue a career in medicine.
She earned her M.D. degree from the University of Rochester medical school in 1939 and later obtained her M.P.H. from Columbia University in 1942. For her field study at Columbia, Calderone worked as a health officer-in-training at Lower East Side District Health Center in New York City, where she met Frank A. Calderone, whom she married in 1941. Frank Calderone served as the head of the Lower East Side District Health Center, and after serving as the first deputy health commissioner of New York City from 1943 to 1946, became a leading figure in the World Health Organization (WHO) during its formative years. The Calderone Prize, the most prestigious prize in the field of public health, is named after him. The couple had two daughters, Francesca (1943) and Maria (1946).
