Finnerty retired from the Senate on July 15, 2005 upon reaching the chamber's mandatory retirement age of 75.
Before being appointed to the Senate, Finnerty was a medical secretary and community organizer.
At the age of 19, she was appointed to the Timmins Parks and Recreation Commission, where she served as the only woman for over 20 years.
While a resident of Timmins, she managed numerous municipal, provincial and federal campaigns.
She served as executive director of the Liberal Party of Canada's Ontario wing in the late 1970s.
In the early 1980s, she served as executive assistant to John Munro, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, and later managed his national leadership campaign in 1984.
She subsequently served as the Ontario campaign director for the Liberal Party in its victorious 1993 general election campaign.
In the Senate, Finnerty served on the following committees:
Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry
Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Standing Committee on Human Rights
Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Standing Committee on National Finance (as Vice-chair for two sessions)
Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament
Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Standing Committee on Transport and CommunicationsFinnerty died, aged 86, on October 3, 2016, at the Anson General Hospital in Iroquois Falls, Ontario.