(?-1939)
Marie Haps was the founder and first director of the École supérieure de Jeune Filles, a Brussels school offering university-level courses for women. She was born into a well-to-do family, but almost nothing is known about her early life. She married the Brussels financier Joseph Haps and settled in the city about 1900, where she raised four children.
In 1914, Haps founded the Oeuvre de l'Assistance discrète, an organization that collected money and provisions for the needy during World War I. Her work led her to a growing awareness of the need to provide an opportunity for women to obtain high-level education. The school she established opened in October 1919 at rue d'Arlon 11. It was placed under the patronage of the Catholic University of Leu-ven, which provided the school with instructors. After three years of study, students received a diploma of graduation. Marie Haps died in La Panne on 14 March 1939.
Historical Dictionary of Brussels. Paul F. State.