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Lydia Fakundiny Obituary

Fakundiny, Lydia

Lydia Fakundiny passed away on March 31, 2013. Born in Pezinok in the Slovenska Republika on June 20, 1941, she early distinguished herself in mastery of the English language, was urged by both Harvard and Yale to attend for a Ph.D., received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship but declined it in favor of a Marshall Fellowship to Oxford University, where she received a B.Phil. and D.Phil. After returning to the U.S.A., as a Tutor at St. Anne's and Lady Margaret Hall, she taught at Eastern Kentucky University, The Federal City College, Smith College, Ithaca College, and ended her career at Cornell University with her retirement in 2006. She authored several books, the most notable being The Art of the Essay, a collection of 87 essays from the 17th century to the present with headnotes and insight by Lydia. She collaborated on two novels, The Restorationist and The Hearing, with her longtime friend, Joyce Elbrecht. Two brothers, Albert and Vilhelm Fakundiny (wife Margrit) and her longtime friend, Joyce Elbrecht, survive her. Her sister, Elizabeth, predeceased her. At her request, she will be immediately cremated. Friends and relatives are requested to send donations rather than flowers to the charity of their choice or to Hospice, 172 East King Rd., Ithaca 14850.

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Published by Ithaca Journal on Apr. 1, 2013.

Memories and Condolences
for Lydia Fakundiny

Sponsored by Jonathan Pollard '04 .

19 Entries

Joyce A Graves

March 30, 2025

Lydia was the most inspirational teacher I hever had. That was in the very early 1970's. I'll never forget her.

Judy R. Walton, Ph.D.

June 9, 2024

Dr. Fakundiny was a master level (English) college professor. She taught me independently in the evening at Federal City College, since I worked during day. She made an exception for me. We sat in the bay window of her Capitol Hill home in Washington, DC, as she taught, shared, and imparted the history of the English language to me. She declared (and she did) she would show me the contributions of my people to the history (and culture) of English language. She gifted some of her academic papers as I began my graduate studies. I salute a martini to Dr. Fakundiny!

Jonathan Pollard

July 30, 2016

I don't know why, but lately I have thought a great deal about Lydia and all she taught me. I had her during my junior year at Cornell. It was a tumultuous time for me--- I had dropped out of school for roughly 18 months. I had her class during my first semester back.

She was wonderful. She was challenging. She was tough. She was nurturing. She was one of my favorite professors ever. I spent a lot of time visiting her during her office hours, not necessarily to talk about writing, but more to talk about life at large. I was attempting to figure mine out.

In a relatively short period of time, she had a tremendous impact on my life. I miss her deeply.

Joyce Graves

September 30, 2014

I had Lydia as an freshman English teacher in 1966 at Eastern Kentucky University. She sent my life in a trajectory that is still in motion. She was 25; I was 18. Learning of her passing makes me sad. The world in less without her. I miss you, Lydia.

Julia Markish

March 31, 2014

I had the fortune to think often about Professor Fakundiny in the last few weeks as a result of a return to writing, and the misfortune to not have thought of returning to writing - and to her - earlier. It was so long ago that I took her Narrative Writing course as a freshman that I have trouble remembering very many details, and yet so much of that class is embedded in my heart. I will remain forever grateful to this beloved teacher and friend for first believing in me, and then for saying so. I still hope to make her proud.

Christine O'Sullivan

March 5, 2014

A seemingly simple freshman seminar, "Writing from Experience," was transformed into a lifelong love of writing for me (and I imagine, many many others), by Professor Fakundiny. Lydia saw something in me that I didn't know I possessed, pulled it out of me throughout a very challenging semester, and I have been grateful for her generosity of spirit ever since. I hope Lydia knew what a truly remarkable professor, and person, she was. May she rest in peace...and possibly even feel our gratitude...always. God bless...

Michelle Blair

February 5, 2014

You are forever in my heart. Thank you for challenging me to be a stronger writer and person.

Sendhil Mullainathan

June 3, 2013

Lydia taught me to love the essay. Her class is one of the few that stay with me to this day. I was doubly sad to hear this news: I had been planning to send her a copy of my book when it came out in September--one I could never have written without her class.

Robin Arnheim-Sohn

May 31, 2013

I was so blessed to have Lydia as a teacher. She was an amazing educator who demanded as much as she gave. I am so saddened to hear this news.

Chris Arthur

May 17, 2013

I've just learned of Lydia's death. We never met – and I'm saddened to think that this opportunity is now lost. Our mutual interest in essays led to an exchange of letters and emails that I greatly valued. She was a wonderful correspondent. After reading her "The Art of the Essay" I knew she was one of the key modern authorities on this genre – an impression confirmed and strengthened by all the communications she sent. As an essayist, to have Lydia's good opinion of my work mattered more than any published review. Reading what she said gave me new insight into my own writing. She was an incredibly perceptive reader/critic. It doesn't surprise me at all, given my experience with her as a correspondent, that others who had the privilege of being her students acknowledge Lydia's brilliance as a teacher. I knew she was ill, and was impressed by the courageous way she was facing things. The long silence after my most recent email led me to fear the worst. I feel honoured to have known her. Though I regret never having the chance to meet face to face, the fact that our relationship was forged only through the exchange of words seems in a way appropriate for someone of Lydia's high accomplishments with language. I hope Cornell University might consider instituting an essay prize in her memory. Naming it in her honour would surely be a fitting tribute.

Michele Lent Hirsch

April 29, 2013

I probably owe half of my sentences to Lydia. What she taught us, when I took her class eight years ago, influences my writing every day. It's not "What will my editor say?", but "What would Lydia say?"

Hopefully, she knew how wonderfully she affected many of us — our paths toward writing careers, on down to our tiny line edits.

Calvin Godfrey

April 17, 2013

Lydia made all those years spent in the cold worth something. She was brilliant and tough. She inspired fear because she was unwilling to just hand us an A- and be done with us. She wanted writing to matter, not just to people who could pay her for it, but to everyone. She did not suffer fools and hardly could stand me. For that, I truly loved her. There are no more Lydias, at least, not as far as I can find. We are all so much the poorer without her.

Shashi Bhat

April 16, 2013

It's been eight years since I took Lydia's workshop at Cornell, and there are still traces of her advice in all my best writing. She treated us - a bunch of 20-year-olds - like writers. She changed my life. It was an honor to have known her.

April 15, 2013

Lydia Fakundiny taught me more about the art of teaching than any other mentor I ever had. She was a light for all that was good and serious in higher education. Jesse Graves

Jonathan Pollard

April 15, 2013

Professor Fakundiny was one of my favorites. She was brilliant. She was thoughtful. She was kind. I remember how she always had time to meet with me, when my meetings were rarely about class and more about trying to sort out my life and figure out my future plans. In short, she was a wonderful teacher and a wonderful person. She will be missed.

April 15, 2013

I will always remember Lydia for her passion and commitment to teaching the crafts of active reading and writing to her students. I valued every moment in that classroom, and I hope that one day I will become the writer she has inspired me to be.

Sana Krasikov

April 11, 2013

Lydia's seminar was absolutely transformative, and even now as a working writer I continue to think about what she taught in it. Lydia was like nobody else. Her depth, precision, respect for language and clarity and varieties of expression, respect for her students -- made our class magical. She will be missed.

Jessica Orkin

April 1, 2013

I entered Lydia's class these many years ago an eager, blurry Cornell freshman. I left a confident writer, a deep listener, and a believer in the power of language to shape reality. I remember her as both gentle and fierce, encouraging and exacting, reserved and welcoming. She inspired many to become more fully and brightly themselves. She will be deeply missed.

Jennifer Anderson

April 1, 2013

In loving memory of a wonderful person, a great mind, a passionate writer and a caring professor. Lydia had a positive influence on my trajectory at Cornell and in life. May she rest in peace.

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