Susana Graciela Occhi

Susana Graciela Occhi passed away in San Diego, California on July 5, 2026. Born in Santa Fe, Argentina in 1940 to Delia Margarita Orsi and Martin Julio Occhi, she would become an influential figure in women’s athletics both in Argentina and in the United States.

Susana’s initial experience in the USA came with her selection by The American Field Service to be the first exchange student at Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley near San Diego, California. Her host family, Bob and Laura Barrett and Mary, their daughter, welcomed her for her senior year in August 1958.

Following her exchange student year, Susana went back to Argentina to earn her bachelor’s degree in physical education. After several years of teaching and coaching there, she returned to the United States in the late 1960’s to earn her master’s degree at the University of Delaware. While at Delaware, she also served as the university’s first head coach of women’s volleyball and basketball teams in the early 1970’s. She played an active role in the movement to develop college women’s athletics programs, ultimately leading to her induction into the University of Delaware’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.

In 1974, Susana accepted the position as the first head coach of women’s volleyball at Princeton University, a position she held until 1984. Early in her tenure, she agreed to initiate and coach the fledgling men’s volleyball team at Princeton, where the grateful young men affectionately called her “Mrs. Coach.”

Having been an assistant coach of the Argentine women’s national volleyball team and a college coach of women’s volleyball in the USA, she worked tirelessly to connect college volleyball coaches with potential student-athletes. She was a model teacher and coach to students in both countries, doing everything she could to maximize their opportunities for success, both as athletes and as people.

In 1989, Susana spent a year as an intern in the newly created NCAA Administrative Intern Program. She then finished her career as a physical education teacher at Linda Vista Elementary School in San Diego until her official retirement in 2003.

Susana divided her residences as a dual citizen equally between Argentina and California. She spent most of her Christmas holidays with her family at a beach house near Buenos Aires where she shared the company of her sisters Raquel and Martha, brother Martin, and their spouses, plus three nieces and four nephews, all of whom enjoyed her enthusiastic involvement and affection.

Susana entrusted her final arrangements to The Trident Society of San Diego; no services are planned at this time. Throughout the world, though, glasses of Malbec will be raised in honor of a woman distinguished for her many achievements, for the many lives that she touched, and for the many friendships she built in a life well-lived.