Nathalie Babel Brown

BABEL BROWN, NATHALIE

NATHALIE BABEL BROWN, daughter of renowned Russian writer Isaac Babel, died on December 8, 2005, at Washington Medical Center from a pulmonary thromboembolism following surgery. Born in Paris, France in 1929 and a Jewish survivor of German-occupied France, Ms. Babel Brown graduated from the Sorbonne and came to the United States in 1961 to teach at Barnard College. She subsequently received a masters in Slavic studies (1964) and a doctorate in comparative literature (1970) from Columbia University, and taught at the Universities of Texas, California, and Ottawa. Ms. Babel Brown edited numerous volumes of her father's letters and stories, including "The Complete Works of Isaac Babel" (Norton, 2002), which won the Koret Jewish Book Award. She was the widow of Richard H. Brown, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, to whom she was married for 36 years. Ms. Babel Brown is survived by their son, Ramiro Brown, and granddaughters Sylvia and Nathalie of Zihuatanejo, Mexico; a half-sister, Lidya Babel, of Silver Spring, MD; and sisters-in-law Darlene Lancer and Leslie Patten of, respectively, Los Angeles and Marin County, CA. A memorial service honoring Ms. Babel Brown will be held in New York City in coming weeks.