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Philip L. Kohl, professor of anthropology and Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Slavic Studies emeritus, served on the Wellesley faculty for 42 years before retiring in 2016. He was a founding member of the College’s anthropology department. Over his years of service, including for more than a decade as chair, Phil helped establish a vision of the anthropology department as the most broadly conceived of social sciences, stretching from the ancient past to our imagined collective future.

Rebecca Summerhays, lecturer in the College’s Writing Program, was funny, irreverent, brilliant, and beyond kind. She taught those she loved so many, many important lessons—about teaching, about living, about laughing, about caring, about yoga, about meditating, about walking, about searching, about decorating, about loving, and finally, about finding all that is good in this world and celebrating and cherishing it.

“Our bond with Janet McDonald Hill began 57 years ago when we arrived at Wellesley as members of the class of 1969. … Her voice is now stilled, and our own circle has lost a vital link that can never be replaced,” her classmates write.

Tributes to Wellesley alumnae by family and friends

Tributes to Wellesley alumnae by family and friends

Rodney J. Morrison, emeritus professor of economics at Wellesley College, passed away on Dec. 16, 2021, in Chicago at the age of 87. Throughout his career, Rod was a productive and internationally recognized scholar. He was a NATO Fellow in economics and published many articles in respected journals and several influential books, including Portugal: Revolutionary Change in an Open Economy (1981), a work that synthesized economics, international relations, and history.

Barbara Peterson Ruhlman ’54 passed away on Jan. 2. Her visionary gift to Wellesley, the Barbara Ruhlman Fund for Interdisciplinary Studies, acknowledged and supported the increasing interest of students and faculty in collaborating across disciplines. Since 1997, the fund has sponsored the Ruhlman Conference, an annual spring event that celebrates student scholarly and creative achievement.

The entire Wellesley community lost a great friend on Dec. 6, 2021, when Trustee Emeritus Sid Knafel died. Many of us had the privilege and pleasure of a personal friendship with Sid, and we all benefit from Sid’s vision and generosity. The fullness of his life is directly reflected in the diversity and creativity of his philanthropy.

With sadness, the Art Department announces the deaths of our beloved colleagues Lilian Armstrong ’58, Mildred Lane Kemper Professor of Art emerita, and Peter J. Fergusson, Theodora L. and Stanley H. Feldberg Professor of Art emeritus. For more than 40 years, their gift for making others feel welcome made them the collegial center of the Art Department. But for generations of Wellesley students, they will be especially remembered as dedicated and inspiring teachers.