Janet Russell Doner

Janet Russell Doner passed away on March 30, 2025, after suffering a brain hemorrhage days earlier.  

Janet was born January 4, 1948 in Broxburn, Scotland, near Edinburgh.  She was a Francophile from a young age, and received BA and MA degrees in French from Edinburgh University.  In Dundee, Scotland she met and married Landis Doner in 1972.  The next year they moved to the United States, where Janet received a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.  There, she specialized in medieval French literature.  She continued this research after accepting a Senior Lecturer position at Bryn Mawr College.  At Bryn Mawr College Janet developed the intensive French track, and was the first director of their language laboratory.  She was recognized as an outstanding teacher by her students and fellow faculty, and in 1994 she received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished teaching.  In 1999 she received the award as the top post-secondary French teacher in the country, from the American Association of the Teachers of French.

Janet and Landis resided in Wyndmoor, PA and also have an apartment in her beloved Edinburgh, Scotland. Janet is survived by her sister Una Malcolm.

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