In Memoriam: Jessine A. Monaghan ’79L, Trustee Emerita and Former Adjunct Professor of Law Monaghan served on the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2016 and taught at the W&L Law School as an adjunct professor for four years.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
April 13, 2026

Jessine A. Monaghan ’79L, trustee emerita and former adjunct professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law, died on March 31, 2026, in Washington, D.C. She was 72.

Born to Jessine M. Monaghan and Francis A. Monaghan on May 5, 1953, Monaghan grew up in Bellerose Village, New York. She was introduced to music at an early age, which sparked a lifelong love and support for classical music. She graduated from Floral Park Memorial High School.

She graduated from Wellesley College in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts in art history with honors and a second degree in history. She enrolled in W&L Law School in 1976 and obtained her J.D. in 1979. While at W&L, Monaghan was a Burks Scholar and member of the international moot court team, the Women Law Students Association and Omicron Delta Kappa.

Monaghan practiced law with Hunton & Williams LLP, now Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, for several years before joining General Electric Company in 1992. During her first stint at GE Plastics, a division of General Electric, she worked as the European environmental, health and safety attorney, which covered the firm’s 80 manufacturing plants in Europe. For two years, she worked as director and European compliance officer for Sotheby’s in London, where she helped the auction house develop a compliance program and implement it across its European offices. Shen then returned to GE to be manager and counsel of regulatory programs. In 2007, she became director and senior counsel of government relations in the Americas for SABIC Innovative Plastics, a global chemical and plastics company with employees in 40 countries. After retiring in 2017, Monaghan taught at the Law School as an adjunct professor, focusing on art law, until 2022.

Monaghan served on the W&L Board of Trustees from 2007 until 2016. She was a member of the Law School Committee and the Capital Projects Committee during her board tenure, as well as a member of the Law Dean Search Committee from 2010-11. She served as a Reunion Class Committee member for her 35th, 40th and 45th law reunions. She was a campaign council member for the university’s Leading Lives of Consequence capital campaign and was vice chair of For the Rising Generation Area Campaign Committee for Washington, D.C. In addition, Monaghan was a law class agent for the W&L Fund and a member of the Law Council, the George Washington Society, the Lettie Pate Evans Society Committee and Women’s Event Host Committee, as well as a SPEAK volunteer.

Inspired by Gerry Lenfest ’53, ’55L and John Huss ’65L, Monaghan created the Jessine A. Monaghan Fund in support of law faculty bringing experiential learning to the third-year curriculum. Her endowment, which tripled in size because of the Lenfest Challenge for Faculty Support and the Huss challenge gift for the third-year curriculum, supports faculty in their curricula development, and those who receive such grants are designated as Monaghan Fellows. She also created the Monaghan Family Law Scholarship Endowment Fund in 2017, helped her law school class create the Archibald Carter “Chip” Magee Class of 1979L Scholarship in honor of their classmate who died in 2019, and supported the Lewis Hall renovations. She was named an honorary member of the Order of the Coif in 2009 and was recognized on the W&L Honored Benefactors Wall in 2019.

Beyond Washington and Lee, Monaghan served as chair of the Board of Trustees for the National Symphony Orchestra. She also was a board member for Leadership Connect, Inc., Young Concert Artists and the George C. Marshall Foundation, and she supported StringTime, a Northern Virginia educational program.

She is survived by her partner, Dr. Steve Hentges, her mother, Jessine M. Monaghan, her brother, Ken (Meg), her sister, Karen (Mark), and four nieces and nephews, along with their children.

A celebration of life will be held in the future. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Jessine A. Monaghan Fellowship in Experiential Education at Washington and Lee University School of Law, StringTime or to the charity of your choice.

Monaghan’s full obituary was published by Dignity Memorial.