Dr. Eleanor Wenkart Smollett

(née Wenkart) July 14, 1937 - June 4, 2025 At her home in Toronto, in her 88th year. Eleanor leaves her daughter, Rebecca Smollett; son-in-law, David Ley; and their children, Abraham Ley and Wren (Yohanna) Ley. Her daughter is enormously grateful for the care Eleanor received at home this past year from a team of gracious carers, and especially for the exceptional, dignified care she received from Dr. Rory O'Sullivan and her long-time, loving caregiver, Ana Bozolan. Eleanor was predeceased by her husband, Peter of over 50 years in 2017; and by her sister, Henny Wenkart Epstein in 2021. Eleanor (known as Kuki to her family) was born on July 14, 1937, in Vienna to Herman Wenkart and Rachela Wenkart (née Stein). The Wenkarts fled Austria in 1939 with their youngest child and settled in Providence, Rhode Island, where Eleanor grew up. (Eleanor's older sister, Henny had preceded them to the United States, where they were reunited.) Eleanor studied anthropology at Brandeis University and married fellow student, Louis Chiaramonte while still a student, divorcing a few years later. She went on to study at Columbia University with (among others) Margaret Mead, earning a doctorate in anthropology (1969). She completed her doctoral field work in southern India in 1964 and, on her return, began her teaching career at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. In 1966, Eleanor met and married Peter Smollett, a documentary film maker. Shortly after, she accepted a position in the interdisciplinary social science department at the University of Regina. In 1968, Peter and Eleanor packed up their station wagon in Manhattan and departed for the Canadian prairies, where they would remain for almost 30 years. There they raised their daughter, Rebecca, born in 1970. Dr. Smollett introduced undergraduate students and young professionals (including teachers, nurses, and civil servants) to an understanding of cultural differences and social change. During the 1970's and1980's, she travelled regularly to socialist Bulgaria, conducting life history research on the development of cooperative farms and urbanization. She also served as chair of Greenhouse school, a progressive alternative school in Regina. Eleanor was a dedicated teacher and a mentor to a generation of progressive students in Regina, and the Smollett home was renowned for lively gatherings, good food, and good conversation. In the late 1990's, Peter and Eleanor retired to Toronto, where they eventually welcomed a son-in-law and two grandchildren into their lives. Eleanor was active in the park committee of their downtown neighbourhood and spent long hours sitting on her front porch with her beloved dog admiring the leafy view. Eleanor was an eager collector of life stories, in both her professional and personal life. Despite trauma and loss, she approached the world with curiosity, bravery, and generosity. Until her very last year of life, anyone who entered her home (including nurses and tradespeople) was instructed to open the fridge and help themself. Eleanor once told her daughter that the worst thing about dying would be to not know "what would happen next."