In Memoriam: Prof. Rena A. Lamparska

The Dept. of Romance Languages and Literatures  announces, with great sorrow, the passing of Professor Emerita of Italian, Rena Anna Lamparska, on October 16, 2018. Prof. Lamparska had been a member of our department for thirty years, retiring in 2012. In addition to being a well-known scholar in her field (comprising both modern Italian theater and the Enlightenment in Italy) and a devoted, much beloved teacher, she was a person of great personal culture, love of the arts, cosmopolitan experience, and zest for life. Born in Czersk, Poland, she was the daughter of the late Zygmunt Syski and Halina Syska (Wisniewska) and the mother of John O. Lamparski of New York City. She received her Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Wroclaw (Poland), a Master of Arts (M.A.), Catholic University of America, Washington (DC); and a Ph.D., from Harvard University.The author of several books, as well as numerous articles in a number of literary journals, she was a member of the American Association for Italian Studies; the Midwestern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies; and the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA). A memorial service at Boston College will be held later this Fall at Boston College. Prof. Christine Evans of Lesley University, a Harvard GSAS classmate, offered this eulogy at Prof. Lamparska's funeral service on October 23, 2018.