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Dr Aglaia “Lily” Macrakis née Chryssanthacopoulou, a distinguished historian, pedagogue and dean, died connected September 17, 2025 successful Boston. Born connected July 6, 1926 successful Athens, she was the girl of Chryssanthos Chryssanthacopoulos and Irini Carabini. She lived for galore years successful Belmont and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She founded and directed the Greek Studies Program and co-directed the European Studies Program, motivating students not lone arsenic an inspiring lecturer, but besides done stimulating taste activities and acquisition travel
As a child, Lily demonstrated large intelligence gifts and a passionateness for history, which she was capable to prosecute astatine the University of Athens successful spite of the German concern of Greece and the Greek Civil War. After the war, she was portion of a team of recently minted past and archaeology BAs who helped place the past treasures of the Acropolis Museum hidden successful caves from the Nazis. Determined some to bash postgraduate work successful past and to wed her aboriginal husband, Michael S. Macrakis, who had near Athens to prosecute a PhD successful physics astatine Harvard, she managed to transportation Harvard to judge her, and her parents to fto her wed a antheral of her ain choosing. The week she stepped disconnected the Queen Mary successful Boston Harbor, she joined Michael, attended her archetypal postgraduate seminar, and moved to Belmont, Massachusetts, where she and her hubby built a beingness centered connected a exceptional radical of Greek friends who studied astatine Harvard and MIT successful the 1950s and 1960s, and with whom they shared lively Easter and New Years celebrations for 30 years.
Dr Macrakis’ singular world career, which had stalled successful the precocious 1950s when she had her three children, was enactment backmost connected track when she was selected arsenic a subordinate of the inaugural radical of Fellows of the Radcliffe Institute – a cohort that included the poets Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin – and where she began work connected her biography of the Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos. The biography became her PhD dissertation astatine Harvard. The Greek edition, “Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1910): The Making of a National Leader,” received the Prize of the Academy of Athens.
Her Radcliffe fellowship besides launched her agelong and distinguished vocation astatine Regis College (Weston), which started successful 1964, archetypal arsenic a lecturer, then arsenic professor, and yet seat of the History Department. A visionary educator, she founded and directed the Greek Studies Program and co-directed the European Studies Program, motivating students not lone arsenic an inspiring lecturer, but besides done stimulating taste activities and acquisition travel. She was a visiting prof astatine Harvard, Boston College, and the Universities of Crete and of the Aegean. She retired from Regis successful 1998. But that status was not an extremity to her world life, alternatively a transition to a caller enactment role: From 2002, astatine 74, until 2011, she served arsenic the dean of Hellenic College (Brookline), making caller friends and inspiring different procreation of undergraduates.
Her bequest is 1 of rigorous scholarship, tireless mentorship, and pioneering enactment successful Greek studies. She helped signifier generations of students and scholars, opening spaces for probe and understanding successful modern Greek history, lit and culture. She was agelong an serviceman of the Modern Greek Studies Association, and its president successful 1977-1979. She besides served connected the advisory boards of College Year successful Athens, the Helicon Society of New England, the Aegean Institute, and different taste organizations.
In designation of her beingness of assistance and mentorship, the festschrift “Historical Poetics successful Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Greece: Essays successful Honor of Lily Macrakis” was published arsenic a special contented of Classics@, the diary of Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies.
After her husband’s death, she lived for galore years successful an flat successful her son’s location successful Cambridge, where, when not astatine the BSO oregon meal with friends, she had meal with her grandchildren and their friends, which was 1 of the large joys of her life. She besides spent galore summers successful Athens with her girl Michèle and the mountains of Georgia with her girl Kristie.
Dr Macrakis is survived by her children, Stavros (with his spouse Robin Fleming) and Michèle; her granddaughters Eleni (with her hubby Charlie Klemmer and Lily’s great-grandson Adrian Loukas Klemmer) and Clio (with her spouse Tucker Wheeler); and her erstwhile daughter-in-law Dominique Stassart. She was predeceased by her sister Jenny successful 1947, her hubby Michael successful 2001, and her girl Kristie successful 2022.
A memorial work will beryllium announced astatine a aboriginal date. In lieu of flowers, donations whitethorn beryllium made successful her sanction to the Modern Greek Studies Association oregon to College Year successful Athens.
Robin Fleming is simply a prof of past astatine Boston College.
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