ELGA R. WASSERMAN

I am forever in Elga's debt for admitting me to Yale in 1969.
I worked closely with her on the Committee on Coeducation, and she was a true mentor, protector and proponent for the women students at a time when we were very few in a very male dominated institution. I found out after I was admitted to Yale that she had known my mother, who was almost exactly her age, in Berlin; they went to the same Jewish primary school after the Nazis came to power, and I reintroduced them at a Yale...

Thanks to be Elga for her tireless advocacy and her creation of a welcoming climate for those of us who came to Yale College in 1969.

In the mid-90's Elga and I had some wonderful talks on the Mattapan trolley through Milton and on the Ashmont T. We talked about women, and science, and all the complexities of being a full person in the mix of all of that. I was in my 30's, and torn about my scientific career, theoretical kids (now 9 and 13!), and doing it all while married to an academic scientist. She was like a fairy godmother (with all the experience and wisdom born of big successes and little crashes) who dropped in...

Forever indebted to Elga for her care, compassion, and love for, and her fierce advocacy on behalf of each one of us young women who arrived at Yale in 1969 -- 45 years ago this fall.

Dear Diana, Dan and Steve: I do not need to tell you how much Elga meant to me, and to Stan, and to so many of us in New Haven. She was the most patient mentor, the wisest and most perceptive law colleague and the truest friend. I feel very blessed to have had her in my life. Each person I have told of her passing, has expressed admiration and a true sense of loss. We loved her, and Harry, very much. Bobbi and Stan Friedman

I have been a close friend of Elga's since 1985 when we went to China on a Person to Person sponsored trip. She was a wonderful travelling companion and remained one of my best friends for all the years following. we were as close as sisters--she always had a kind word, a thoughtful question, a deep insight into things. I am overwhelmed trying to get used to the fact that I will not see her again. She was a phenomenon. I loved her with all my heart. Lynda Christian

Dan, so sorry for your loss. Your mother sounds like a truly remarkable woman. - Teresa

Amazingly energetic, warm, level-headed, dynamic. She was very very good to her friends. I'm deeply sad that she is gone.
--Rick

She was a fantastic woman and I admired her greatly. So sorry for your loss.
~ Susan Baratz Grimes