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Chaninah Maschler Obituary

Chaninah Maschler, 82, formerly Chaninah Marienthal-Lowenthal, a retired member of the St. John's College faculty, died peacefully in her home on August 7, 2014 after a long illness. She was born in Berlin in 1931, then moved to Amsterdam. She hid from the Nazis during World War II, saved by a Christian family named the Mooks, in Utrecht, the Netherlands. After the war she was reunited with her mother, who had survived Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and they immigrated to the United States. She excelled academically, and won a full scholarship for graduate study at Yale University, where she was one of the first women to study philosophy. She taught philosophy, religion, and other subjects at Penn State, Bryn Mawr, and Queens College. Mrs. Maschler moved to Annapolis in 1976 to take a position at St. John's College, where she taught everything from ancient Greek to Newtonian physics. She maintained contact with many former colleagues and students for decades. She was a founding member of Kol Ami synagogue (now Kol Shalom). She will be most remembered for her abiding curiosity and interest in diverse topics and people. Among her many interests were gardening, child development, Darwin, Charles Sanders Pearce, Spinoza, and Black poetry. Donations in her name may be given to Hospice of the Chesapeake. She is survived by her daughters, Rina Maschler and husband Joel Silver, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Toni Maschler and husband David Ballenger, of Alexandria, Virginia, as well as by her granddaughter, Josie Silver. Her husband, Henry Maschler, died in 2004. A memorial will be held at St. John's College on September 14 at 9 am.

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Published by The Capital Gazette on Aug. 11, 2014.

Memories and Condolences
for Chaninah Maschler

Sponsored by anonymous.

22 Entries

Eileen Frater

August 5, 2022

Remembering dear Mrs. Maschler today

Jim Bailey

October 12, 2014

I dearly loved Chaninah Maschler. She was a beloved mentor, guide, and friend. She was my freshman science tutor and she made biology come alive for me for the first time by encouraging me to draw what I saw under the microscope and journal about it. When we watched chicken embryos develop, their hearts beat for the first time, and the web of pulsing capillaries expand I was caught -for the first time science became a creative enterprise to which I could contribute. She made it come alive. Then she taught me Greek as a Sophomore. When I asked her to help me investigate Christian sacrifice in the New Testament as my Sophomore essay subject she directed me to Leviticus and made me struggle and see what sacrifice really meant in the old testament first. In every subject she encouraged us to think deeply and feel deeply the real meaning of things. For her, education was not simply an activity of the head. She instructed our hearts.

Years after leaving St. John's she became a friend. She insisted on Chaninah, not the formal Mrs. Maschler to which I was accustomed. She let me and my son stay with her when he was looking at colleges. She was interested in him just as she was in me and in all people for what was deep in their heart and what they felt they most needed to contribute.

I cannot express the depth of my gratitude to Chaninah Maschler for all she has given me. I will always hold her close in my heart and I miss her now. Toni and Rina, you have my deepest sympathy. And you can always call on me and my family as you would call on your own. To your mother and family I will always be in debt.

When

September 23, 2014

I never knew anyone else who had such a passion for life, equally intrigued by Euclid and Sesame Street. Nothing made me happier as a student than a day when her deeply clouded brow would give way to a radiant sunny smile.

George Eckerle

September 15, 2014

One anecdote to show her deep care for her students. She asked about a mutual friend, David, who was playing in a student band. She had grave reservations about this movement "Punk", which struck her as wallowing in the grotesque for its own sake, and had heard that David's student band fit into this genre. I told her that over the past year the band had made a transition from Punk, and might now be described as "Pop". What is the genre, give an example? Well, the Beatles. "Oh, well that is quite all right". Five minutes later she gave one of her great smiles. This was a great weight off her mind. She had been truly worried, and was experiencing relief on behalf of her student. That moment has stayed with me. May there be more like her. I haven't met them, but may there be more. I think that perhaps, through her actions, there may be.

Liz Colmant Estes

September 15, 2014

Chaninah taught me to read as if my life depended on it. Once that happens there is no going back. I am so thankful she was my teacher! She taught me it is in no one's interest to be forever deferential. Sometimes you have to just stand up. Especially if you are a teacher. May all the good she has done live forever in hearts. I and a few others wrote more about her here: http://on.fb.me/1D9ZCmf
In particular, one alumna captures Chaninah using Sesame Street as a definitive text. She had no shame.

Eileen Williams

September 8, 2014

My thoughts and prayers are with your family during this difficult time. I met Mrs. Maschler at her dental office. I always looked forward to our visits. We had some wonderful conversations. I will miss her visits. May your many wonderful memories of your dear Mother bring you comfort in the days ahead.

Maurice and Angela Silverman

September 7, 2014

An outstanding woman who raised two outstanding daughters.

Muneet Bakshi (Annapolis 94)

August 31, 2014

I was also one of the lucky students to have Mrs. Maschler for Freshman greek. Greek was challenging and I was challenged. She helped me get over my fears. She also introduced me to New York Times and the great american authors (Fitzgerald, Hemingway etc.). To this day (24 years later) I always think of her when I pick up one of those authors. You will always be in our hearts Mrs. Maschler.

Andrew White

August 19, 2014

My chief regret is that she had to put up with my ignorant, younger self as a Freshman at SJC. I loved her passion for poetry, and her insistence that all of us keep a book of poems by our bedside and read one every night, _every_ night, before we went to sleep. What a treasure she was!

David Vermette

August 15, 2014

I had her for Sophomore Greek and I also lived in her basement. In class she would leap to the board, with the speed of Hermes, to scrawl on it in Greek, chalk flying everywhere. She was one of the best teachers and among the sharpest people I have ever encountered and I can still remember discrete conversations that we had verbatim. Brilliant, intimidating, charming, endlessly curious. Scary smart.
I remember her amazing address at Class Day 1986 where she interpreted William Blake's "The Tyger" in light of a Buddhist parable. I'd tell you the "Oedipus, schmoedipus" story but it would take too long.

Sara Matson

August 15, 2014

Mrs. Maschler taught me Freshman Greek in summer school 1979 at St. John's. I had failed both Greek and Math Freshman Year and was trying to make it up in summer school. She couldn't understand why I didn't understand and she told me to memorise something - anything - I loved. So I memorised the first page of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles and after I recited it to her she said, "If you memorised that, you can get Greek." And purely on the basis of this unconventional 'exam' she passed me, which meant I got to stay at St. John's. Oddly enough a number of years later I moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands to be with my Dutch husband and raised our family there. I never knew until recently that she had come from there. We must have walked down the same streets in different times.

Toni Maschler

August 15, 2014

Dear students, thank you for sharing your memories of my Mom. It helps ease the pain of losing her a little to learn of funny or touching stories I did not know.

Clayton DeKorne

August 15, 2014

I had the opportunity to live in her basement apartment my senior year, and she was an informal adviser to me on my thesis. The conversations many evenings on her steps were memorable and moving. What a beautiful, compassionate soul. She will be dearly missed.

Christopher Simpson

August 14, 2014

One night back in the early '90s she needed a ride home, she hopped on the back of my motorcycle without batting an eye. She was awesome.

Amy Thurston

August 12, 2014

Freshman Greek, 1991. My classmate Kathy was reading a translation in a soft, uncertain voice. Mrs Maschler couldn't hear her, and leaned across the table, right at her, and said, "Ms. Stolzenbach, you must lose your shame." It became one of our best memories. Kathy used it as the quote on her senior picture in the yearbook. She passed away several years ago, and now Mrs. Maschler joins her. I miss them both.

Anja Helmon

August 12, 2014

I had Mrs. Maschler for French. She had a special way of getting right to the point as she pushed us to excel, which resulted in some wonderful stories that students would often tell with admiration and respect. Respect is a great word - every one of us respected the great wealth of wisdom and passion she brought to every class.

Yitian Cai

August 12, 2014

Mrs. Maschler has never taught me. In my junior year I helped her check out some books in the library while I was still working there. I always had the wonder who she was and what her stories were.

Shannon Mulloy

August 12, 2014

Always, her opinion on Alsace-Lorraine comes to mind... She was never a tudor of mine, but I have always had a great respect for her as a person and an educator.

Daniel Cohen

August 11, 2014

I had her for freshman lab and shared a Passover meal with her. Great memories. Iwill never forget her. She was a great tutor and a great person.

Christopher Gillen

August 11, 2014

Mrs. Maschler was my Freshman Seminar tutor and as a result asked the opening question of my college career. I can't imagine a better start. She was always the heart of St. John's to me and the embodiment of its method of fearless questioning.

Veronica Jimenez

August 11, 2014

A great tutor and friend! never to be forgotten.

Colin Ray

August 11, 2014

My wife (Emiko Ima) and I met in Mrs, Maschler's Freshmen Greek class in 1990. I have many fond memories of our class. Greek was not easy for me - but Mrs. Maschler pushed us to apply ourselves and helped us learn to learn.

I will always remember the genuine concern she showed for students. If someone seemed upset she would try to help them.

She invited me to her house for dinner with her and her husband one day; it was during Thanksgiving break and she felt sorry for me as I remained at school.

She is a great intellectual and personal example. She will always be remembered.

Colin Ray, Class of 1994

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