Fordham University’s Department of English will host a memorial service and reception on Thursday, April 14, to celebrate the life of Margaret “Mimi” Lamb, Ph.D.
The service will be held at 4 p.m. in the Lowenstein Center chapel on the Lincoln Center campus.
Lamb, an associate professor of English, died on March 22 from acute leukemia.
“Mimi Lamb was a gracious, creative and fascinating person who shared so many different gifts with the college over 35 years,” said Robert Grimes, S.J., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC).
The oldest of seven children, Lamb was born on March 6, 1936, in Grand Forks, N.D. and grew up in the nearby farming town of Michigan City. Following high school, she attended Vassar College, earning a bachelor of arts in English in 1958.
After graduation, Lamb moved to New York City, where she attended New York University, earning an master of arts in film in 1965 and a doctorate in drama in 1976. That same year, Fordham hired her as an assistant professor of English.
She was promoted to associate professor in 1983.
Eva Stadler-Brooks, Ph.D., professor emirita of English, recalled Lamb as a “great colleague and wonderful friend,” someone who played an important role in the development of the creative writing and media studies curriculum at FCLC during her 35-year teaching career.
Elizabeth Stone, Ph.D., professor of English, communication and media studies, remembered Lamb as an artist, author, essayist and playwright who gave unstinting support to fellow faculty and students in all of their creative endeavors.
“She was at once voracious and discerning in her appetite for what others, especially her colleagues, produced,” Stone said. “You wrote a book? She read it. You put on a play? She came. You gave a recital? She showed up. And it wasn’t because she was being polite. She was really curious.
“Although she had impeccable taste, she almost always had something generous to say,” she added. “I think that’s pretty rare.”
A versatile writer, Lamb was the author of a mystery novel, Chains of Gold (Ballantine, 1986) and the theatre text Antony and Cleopatra on the English Stage (Farleigh Dickenson University Press, 1981). She published a repertoire of academic essays, short stories and plays, including “Monkey Music,” produced by the Pan Asian Repertory at La Mama.
She held membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society and was a recipient of three Academy of American Poets awards.
Those interested in attending and/or speaking at the memorial service can RSVP here.
