Mary Alice Rusk, the retired director of libraries for the city school system, died June 13 from complications of cancer at Good Samaritan Hospital. She was 86 and lived in Morgan Park.
She retired in 1975 as director of library sciences and coordinator of media and technology. She also had taught in city schools.
"She had a reputation for high expectations and exacting standards," said her son, Osborne B. Dixon Jr., who lives in Baltimore.
Born in Baltimore and raised on McCulloh Street, Mary Alice Chambers was a 1931 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. She earned a degree in education from Coppin Normal School in West Baltimore.
She had a degree from Morgan State University and in 1958 earned a master's degree in library science from Catholic University of America in Washington. Her thesis, "Easy Ways to Displays," which dealt with library-related graphics, was published by the university.
She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and of the Morgan Park, American Library, National Education, and Retired Teachers associations.
In 1952, she married Bernard K. Rusk, who owned a public relations business. He died in 1995. Her 1942 marriage to Osborne B. Dixon Sr. ended in divorce.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church, 5401 Loch Raven Blvd., where she was a member. A family hour will precede the Mass.
In addition to her son, she is survived by a brother, Dr. J. Clarence Chambers Jr. of Amherst, Mass.; and a granddaughter, Carol Dixon of Baltimore.
