Olivia Balfour Maldonado Delgado de Torres

1944 - 2014
Dr. Olivia Balfour Maldonado Delgado de Torres, neé Olive, died Friday, April 18, 2014 in her home in Santa Fe, NM. She was born on January 4, 1944 in Philadelphia, PA. She moved with her family to the Bronx, NY, eventually settling in Mt. Vernon, NY.

Dr. Delgado de Torres graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. She went on to attend Vassar College where she graduated with honors in French. After college, she began her career as a reporter for Life Magazine's international editions. It was during this time that she met and married Juan Delgado de Torres. The couple lived in Brooklyn where they had one child, Lena Delgado de Torres.

An avid writer and thinker, Dr. Delgado de Torres decided to go to graduate school and pursue a doctorate in philosophy. She attended the New School for Social Research's Graduate Faculty and obtained her doctoral degree in Ancient Greek philosophy, studying with Dr. Seth Benardete. She read Ancient Greek, and she was fluent in Spanish, French and Italian.

She went on instruct classes in Philosophy, Logic and Journalism at Long Island University and New York University, eventually obtaining a professorship at Adelphi University. She was a beloved teacher to many of her students. In 1991, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to begin work as a professor at St. John's College.

Dr. Delgado de Torres specialized in feminist studies of Ancient Greek philosophers and playwrights such as Plato and Aristophanes. She is the author of numerous articles on her area of expertise. Prior to her death, she was working on a manuscript dealing with the role of women in Plato's Republic Book V.

Dr. Delgado de Torres was a beloved mother, grandmother, friend and life partner. She will be missed by so many people whose lives she touched. She was an amazingly powerful spirit who has now joined the realm of ancestors to be cherished.

She is survived by her daughter Dr. Lena Delgado de Torres, her grandson, Lucas Alfonso Delgado de Torres, and her long-term partner of 27 years, Kenneth Pin. She is survived by her cousin Aida Blanco y Duarte in Camaguey, Cuba, and by cousins from the Edwards and Anderson families in Jamaica and Ghana.

Services will be held in Brooklyn, NY and Santa Fe, NM. Services in New Mexico will take place at Berardinelli Funeral Home in Santa Fe at 1399 Luisa Street, on Sunday, April 27, 2014; viewing will be from 1-5 pm. Services in New York City will take place from May 1-2, 2014 at Cobble Hill Funeral Home at 171 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY. Thursday, May 1st viewing times will be from 2-5 pm and 7-9 pm. On Friday May 1st, there will be a mass held for Dr. Delgado de Torres at Our Lady of Lebanon Church at 113 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights, NY. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the American Philosophical Association http://www.apaonline.org/