Dr. Barbara Tsakirgis

On January 15th, 2019, Dr. Barbara Tsakirgis, a proud 1972 graduate of Arlington High School, died among her loving family in her home in Nashville Tennessee after a courageous battle with ALS. Dr. Tsakirgis was a leading scholar of Greek art and archaeology and a Vanderbilt University professor for more than 30 years. She earned her B.A. (cum laude) from Yale University and her M.A. and PhD from Princeton University. While at Princeton, she studied at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA). Through the years she continued to be a dynamic force for the ASCSA, serving as a teacher, researcher, and long-standing member of the Managing Committee (vice chair, 2012-2016). She served on the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and for 26 years headed its Nashville Society. She was on the AIA Committee for Archaeology in Higher Education and a board member of the Conservancy for the Parthenon and Centennial Park in Nashville, where she lectured about the Parthenon to the docents and other groups. Barbara was a long-time member of the excavation and resea- rch teams at the Hellenistic city of Morgantina in central Sicily and of the Athenian Agora, the city center and marketplace of ancient Athens. Her passion was focused on domestic architecture and her work has contributed to a much richer understanding of the complicated interplay between private and public spaces as well as the experiences of individuals, families, and communities in the ancient Mediterranean world. She has published widely on the remains of the Greek and Roman houses excavated at both sites. Barbara leaves behind her devoted husband, Jeremy Spinrad, her daughters Thalia and Demetria and her son-in-law Isaac Meyer. She will be missed by her many friends, relatives and academic colleagues around the globe. Funeral Services were held in Nashville, Tennessee.