Maxine Townsend

Maxine Oliver Townsend, age 80, of Upper Marlboro, MD, passed away on September 3, 2020, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. She was born in Mebane, NC to Margaret McCullum and Ernest Compton and was raised in Ossining, NY. After graduating from Ossining High School in 1957, she attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she received a degree in business administration in 1962. She later obtained an MBA from the University of the District of Columbia.  At Howard, she met and married Emory Tolson, Jr. and from that union had two sons. After his death, she met and married Thomas Townsend and had one daughter. Maxine was an avid tennis player, history lover, and world traveler. Her extensive career included serving as deputy budget director under the late Mayor Marion Barry, budget director for the District's Department of Human Services, and as a finance director for the U.S. Peace Corps in Cote d’Ivoire. Her parents and one brother, James D. Oliver, preceded her in death. She leaves to cherish two sons, Todd Tolson, of Silver Spring, MD and Tracey Tolson, of New York, NY; a daughter, Sabrina Kuhn (Toussel) of Dallas, TX; two grandsons, Jamel Tolson and Isaiah Townsend; and one brother, Harold Oliver, of Ossining, NY. Maxine is also survived by one uncle, Thomas Vinson, of Mebane, NC; a niece, Sheryl Oliver, of Fayetteville, GA; and a host of family and friends.

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