Mary Higgins Clark, On Her Fordham Education

Internationally renowned author Mary Higgins Clark’s first suspense novel, Where Are the Children? (Simon & Schuster, 1975) marked a pivotal moment in her life. Higgins Clark, a widower and mother of five children, used the book’s bestselling success to pursue a lifelong dream: earn a college education.

“When we educate young leaders, we give not only a gift to them but to the next generation,” Higgins Clark said in an interview in the June/July issue of Kiwanis Magazine.


Mary Higgins Clark, FCLC '79

Even as a student at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, she continued writing. A Stranger is Watching (Simon & Schuster, 1977) and The Cradle Will Fall (Simon & Schuster, 1980) became bestsellers. She graduated summa cum laude in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Today, Higgins Clark’s 32 novels have sold more than 85 million copies in the U.S. Her most recent suspense novel, Daddy's Gone a Hunting, was released in April.

Read more from the “Queen of Suspense” in her interview with Kiwanis Magazine.