Lila MacLeod Kuhn

Lila MacLeod Kuhn

Lila MacLeod Kuhn, 90, died on Jan. 13, 2018. She was born on July 18, 1927, in Anaconda, MT and grew up in Ardsley, NY. She was valedictorian of her high school class and, in 1949, earned a B.A. in English with General Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Cornell where she was elected President of Women and President of the Women's Athletic Association. Lila met her husband Jim Kuhn at Yale University where she was completing her Master's in English in 1950. She then taught freshman English at Cornell where she was also Assistant to the Dean of Women. In 1951, she and Jim married in Sydney, Australia. They settled in Tenafly where they raised four daughters. From 1970-81 she taught English at Dwight-Englewood School and Riverdale Country Day School, before shifting to public health administration after earning a Master's from Columbia in 1984.

Lila was a person of exceptional warmth and compassion who channeled her concern for others into action. She shared her love of language and literature with her students and her daughters; her quiet energy and organizational skills made her a natural leader who inspired many to join her in working for social justice and human rights locally and at the national level through the Presbyterian Church, USA, the League of Women Voters (LWV), and through the Center for Food Action and Bergen Family Center in Englewood. Lila received many accolades for her volunteer service and leadership—working with families, mothers and infants, job counseling, tutoring, organizing Cresskill's first Fair Housing Committee in 1955, and chairing the LWV's Nuclear Freeze Committee in the 1980s, among many other initiatives. In 1990, she co-authored "Surviving in Bergen County," an investigation into poverty in Bergen County and a resource guide to social services, and produced a 13-part cable TV series under the same title.

In retirement, Lila continued to travel the world with Jim and found great joy and delight in her grandchildren, her family, her faith and her garden. After 65 years of marriage, Lila's husband predeceased her in 2016. She is survived by her four daughters: Kathy, Ellen, Christine and Claudia and their spouses; five grandchildren: Rebecca, Matthew and Wesley, and Hannah and Malcolm; and two great-grandchildren: Collin and Olivia. A memorial service is planned for 3 pm, Feb. 24, at the Presbyterian Church in Norwood, NJ. Donations may be made to the Center for Food Action, 192 W. Demarest Avenue, Englewood, NJ 07631.