Lucile Newman

Lucile (Fanning) Newman Lucile Newman of Jamestown, RI, an educator, feminist, scientist, humanist, mother, grandmother, wife, and dear friend to many, died peacefully October 11th in Middletown, Rhode Island. She lived a long and full life at the center of many important issues of her day - from the civil rights and anti-war struggles of the 1960's to the women's movement of the 1970's and the issues surrounding early childhood education, womens health, gender and orientation equity, and AIDS research. She was born January 13, 1930 in New York City and went to St. Margaret's School, then received her BA from Brown University in 1951. She subsequently received a Masters from Columbia University in 1957 and a PhD in anthropology from the University of California Berkeley in 1965. She taught at Mills College; the University of California San Francisco; the University of California Berkeley and, finally, Brown University for 30 years with appointments in the departments of Anthropology and Community Health, eventually as a Professor Emeritus. She also taught in the Brown Medical School helping to integrate the social sciences into the medical curriculum. First and foremost, Lucile was an academic. She was a charismatic lecturer with an inclusive, warm and engaging style. Her focus was medical anthropology, a discipline she helped to create. She brought a scientist's rigor and love for research to her work. Always happy to question authority and orthodoxy, she wrote a number of important works, especially on early childhood interaction and learning, and led many key anthropological studies that have had wide-reaching impact in the discipline over the years. Her work was important, but her role as a colleague and mentor to so many women and men was most central to her. Lucile Newman served on many boards including Planned Parenthood, the Society for Medical Anthropology, and the New World Foundation. In 1951, Lucile married Frank Newman, who also became an educator (he served as President of the University of Rhode Island from 1974 to 1983). They had a long and madcap marriage of 53 years until Frank's passing in 2004. She is survived by her three sons and their partners, Michael Newman and Katrina Van Valkenburgh of Chicago, Illinois, Ken Newman and Jane Sigal of Jamestown, Rhode Island, Jim Newman and Sarah Slaughter of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and two grandsons, Gage Slaughter Newman and Max Slaughter Newman, both of California. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, 111 Point Street, Providence, RI 02903. (Lucilenewman.wordpress.com)