Music Therapist Hired At Children's Hospital In Wyckoff Mother's Memory

WYCKOFF, N.J. — Children at a Bergen County hospital will receive the gift of music thanks to the generous donations in memory of a township woman who died suddenly five years ago.

A full-time music therapist has been hired to work with patients at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) in memory of Betsy Schaefer Fitzmaurice. A playroom there was renamed in her honor as well.

Fitzmaurice was a Wyckoff mother who died of a brain aneurysm during a Torpedoes soccer tournament in Virginia in 2011. She was 45.

"We searched for a memorial that would really speak to who Betsy was and how she lived," said Carol Schaefer, Fitzmaurice's mother. "Betsy loved music and sang to her children, and it is fitting that this memorial will provide comfort and fun. This music therapist will enhance how children are treated and how they feel, easing the fears of children and their parents."

The therapist will participate in a study to study the effects of music therapy on infant patients.

Fitzmaurice also gave unto others after she died. She was an organ donor.

"Betsy would want to be remembered by inspiring us to do something kind and helpful for another person," Schaefer said. "That is who she was."

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Photo, left to right: Charles Schaefer IV, Jessica Tanis, Carolyn Schaefer Weininger, Charles Schaefer III, Carol Demuth Schaefer, Zachary Fitzmaurice, Katherine Fitzmaurice and Jim Fitzmaurice.