Irene Pines

Irene Pines, a Barry University writing instructor until age 90, mother of three, grandmother of seven, and lifelong lover and scholar of the arts, died on April 11, 2018 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach, Fla. She was 92. A multi-talented artist herself, Pines was a ballet dancer in Cleveland, Ohio, in her youth; a commercial artist in mid-life; one of the oldest PhD. recipients in the history of University of Miami (Literature, 1995, at age 69); and a passionate reader, member of three book clubs and fixture at Miami cultural events in her later years. To the end, she took comfort from Mozart and Verdi, the news (especially from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow), history, poetry and liberal causes. When asked repeatedly by hospital staff for her own name and whereabouts, Pines sometimes faltered. But she always nailed the question of who's the current president. "Trump," she'd say. "Heaven help us." Pines, the daughter of Oscar and Molly Lager, was born on Jan. 14, 1926 in Pittsburgh, PA. After moving repeatedly as her father looked for work in the Depression, she settled in Cleveland. A 1957 graduate of Western Reserve University, she lived in Tokyo and New York City before moving to Miami Beach in 1964 where her jobs included: English professor at the University of Miami, writing center instructor at Barry University until 2016 and fashion artist at the now-shuttered Burdines and Jefferson's department stores. After her divorce, Pines raised three children herself. The three, Jeffrey and Andrew Pines and Deborah Pines Livingstone, survive her along with seven grandchildren: Hayley, Seth, Joshua, Elizabeth, Molly, Analisa and Owen. A memorial service will be held at 2 pm Friday, April 13, at the chapel at Miami Jewish Health Systems (5200 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33137) where Pines lived since 2015.