The Honorable Eunice Strong Groark ’50

(February 1, 1938 – May 8, 2018) Honored as Renbrook’s Distinguished Alumna in October 2017, Eunice Strong Groark, ’50 was a member of the Junior School Class of 1950 and a trailblazer. After graduating from Westover, Bryn Mawr College, and University of Connecticut Law School, she served as Corporation Counsel of the City of Hartford, and before that, she was a Republican member of Hartford’s City Council. In 1991 was elected as Connecticut’s Lieutenant Governor. The first woman to hold this office in our state, Eunice served for four years with Governor Lowell Weicker. In 1994, when then Governor Weicker determined not to run for a second term, Eunice stepped forward and achieved another first. She ran for Governor with Audrey Rowe as her running mate. This made for the state’s first all-female ticket. Though not elected, the women made history.

During her career, Eunice has worked as a practicing attorney, as a visiting professor in Government at Wesleyan University, and as a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She served on many corporate and nonprofit boards, including People’s Bank, Phoenix Edge Series, 1000 Friends of Connecticut, and All Aboard, Inc.

Eunice and her husband, Thomas Groark, Jr., were the parents of three daughters, one of whom graduated from Renbrook. Ezzie ’81 is a Renbrook School Corporator. Eunice was a loyal ambassador to the school throughout her life. She supported the Renbrook Fund every year, served as a trustee from 1978 to 1983 and as a Corporator from 2000 to 2005, shared her time and talents with students as a 2017 Renbrook School Career Day speaker, and was a member of the Legacy Society.