Adeline L. Naiman

NAIMAN, Adeline L. Of Lincoln, MA died March 25. At 85, she had enjoyed a diversely productive professional life as an editor of literature and creator of innovative educational programs. Her parents were Joseph Lubell of Leeds, England and Jennie Samuel of Darsuniskis, Lithuania. She was raised in Cambridge, MA and attended both Girls' Latin School and Hebrew Teachers College. A brilliant student, she graduated early from Radcliffe College (American History and Literature 1945, Class of '46) before becoming the youngest editor at Little, Brown. She was the first editor to take note of Norman Mailer's first novel; though unable to persuade her house to accept The Naked and the Dead due to its perceived obscenity, her efforts led to its publication elsewhere. (The two became close and lifelong friends, and - wearing her signature Marimekko dresses - she later played the president of an elite women's college in Mailer's film Maidstone.) She subsequently worked as a trade-book editor at Ziff-Davis, J.B. Lippincott and Beacon Press, and was a scriptwriter for Coronet Instructional Films.In 1947, Adeline married physicist Mark Naiman, then at Harvard. The couple moved to Chicago and then Philadelphia, where Mark contributed to the early development of commercial digital computers at Univac and there invented the ink-jet printer. After their return to the Boston area in 1962, she became a pioneer in the use of personal computers in primary education. From 1965 to 1979 she was engaged in developing and refining the Elementary Science Study curriculum at Educational Services Inc. (later Education Development Center) as Assistant to the President and Director of Publications. She made similar contributions as Managing Director at Technical Education Research Centers (1979-82), Director of Software at HRM Software (1982-88), Director of Education at The Computer Museum 1988-90), and Director of Academic Development and Instructional Design at Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications (1990-94). In addition to her formal career, Adeline consulted to the Smithsonian Institution, and served on boards and committees for the Museum Institute for Teaching Science, the Whale Conservation Institute, Journal of Science Education and Technology, the Educational Technology Advisory Council, Lesley College, Radcliffe, the Metro Boston YWCA, the Worcester EcoTarium, Lincoln's Disabilities Commission, and many other organizations. She was a valued mentor to a wide range of younger professionals, and was deeply committed to the empowerment and education of girls and women, especially in mathematics and the sciences. She extended her passion to a variety of artistic activities as well, performing for many years with the MIT and Lexington Choral Societies, and frequently enjoying chamber and orchestral music, museum exhibitions and garden displays. Adeline was predeceased by husband Mark and her beloved brother Cecil of Wellfleet, and is survived by her children in Massachusetts: Joris and his wife Lesya (Waltham), Alaric (Lincoln) and Kieron (South Deerfield) as well as sisters-in-law Winifred Milius Lubell and Elaine Naiman Taibi. Interment will be in Lincoln on Monday, 28 March at 1:00PM, with a celebration of her life to follow later in the year. (Please contact her family for more information.) In lieu of flowers, contributions are invited to the Lincoln Council on Aging or the Lydian String Quartet at Brandeis University.