Marilyn Lundy

Age: 75 Residence: St. Clair Shores
Occupation: President of Matrix
Why honored: For helping to provide food, shelter, counseling, education
and job skills to thousands.

She helped build a social services empire, one needy person at a time

“Their programs basically saved me. I had gone through some trouble. ... I had been unemployed for 10 years. But I have a great job now and my life is really good. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t met Marilyn Lundy.” -- Terry Lajiness, one of thousands of people aided over the years by Matrix

erry Lajiness doesn’t mince words when she talks about the profound impact Marilyn Lundy and Detroit’s Matrix Human Services have had on her life.

    “Their programs basically saved me,” says the Dearborn woman. “I had gone through some trouble. I fell into some bad behaviors. I had been unemployed for 10 years.

    “But I have a great job now and my life is really good. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t met Marilyn Lundy.”

    Lajiness is one of thousands of people aided over the years by Matrix, a private social services corporation that oversees a network of agencies helping to provide food, shelter, counseling, education, job skills and a host of other services to the needy in the state’s largest city.

    Lundy is the longtime president of Matrix. She’ll retire in May at age 75 after serving 31 years as head of the organization, which was formerly known as the League of Catholic Women.

    When Lundy took the reins in 1969, the agency operated four social services agencies on a budget of $700,000 a year. Today, Matrix oversees nine agencies with a budget that tops $17 million.

    Services provided by Matrix include child neglect and abuse prevention programs; residences for homeless families and shelters for runaway and homeless youths; recreation, medical referrals and after-school services for children; a charter high school serving 100 at-risk students; a preschool Head Start program for 1,400 children in southwest Detroit; substance abuse treatment and a diversion program for juvenile offenders; and senior centers and a homebound seniors program.

    For 20 years, the president’s job was a full-time volunteer position. When it became a paid position in the late 1980s, Lundy would take only part-time pay.

    She’s proud the agency has flourished under her direction.

    “We’ve been able to provide a broad array of services through the years, and we’re quite unusual in that we have nine diverse agencies, all with their own flavor, demographics and clientele,” Lundy says.

    Lundy was born and raised in Detroit, the daughter of Edward and Adeline Fisher, who were part of the original Fisher Body family. A mother of eight and grandmother of 23, she was married to C. Bradford Lundy Jr. for more than 50 years. He died last year.

    She sits on the board of the Sacred Heart Major Seminary and the Detroit Archdiocesan Board of Catholic Education School Committee and has been an active volunteer for many charitable organizations.

    Upon retirement, Lundy, a former State Board of Education member, will stay involved in the school choice movement. She’s planning to open a charter school for juvenile offenders soon.

    And she hopes to stay in touch with former clients like Lajiness, who came to the agency several years ago as a troubled woman with little hope when Lundy took her in and found her a clerical job. Lajiness climbed up the ranks and is now Lundy’s administrative assistant.

    “Marilyn is one of the most beautiful, inspirational women I’ve ever met,” Lajiness says. “She’s the backbone of everything here.”

    — Mark Hornbeck