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MARILYN YOUNG Obituary
Passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, February 19, 2017. Born April 25, 1937 in Brooklyn, Marilyn was warm, funny, brilliant, and passionate. She loved opera, wine, Italy, and the movies. She had a gift for friendship that sustained her throughout her life. Endlessly generous, she opened her Greenwich Village home to guests from near and far and traveled the world, giving talks and making friends wherever she went. Marilyn was a Professor of History at NYU, and held many prominent positions in her field. She was the author of numerous books, including The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990. She was an antiwar activist, a feminist, and a proud leftist. She is survived by her children, Lauren and Michael and their spouses, Tom and Lizzie; her sisters, Leah and Carole; brother-in-law Gerry; grandchildren Oliver, Jacob and Claudia; aunt Shirley, nieces, nephews and cousins, many beloved friends, and generations of students whose lives she enriched. Funeral services will be held Sunday, February 26, at 2:30pm at Riverside Chapel, 180 W. 76th St. Donations in Marilyn's honor may be made to the War Resisters League, www.warresisters.org
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for MARILYN YOUNG
Nora
February 15, 2024
Come back now!
July 2015 Blue Ridge Parkway
John & Carolynn Ketwig
March 12, 2017
Marilyn was so intelligent, funny, kind, and helpful... and her anti-militarism views and actions were an inspiration. She will be missed by all who knew her.
Cecile Steinberg
March 2, 2017
Vassar's Class of 1957 mourns Marilyn's loss. She was one of the most brilliant members of our class and we knew she would go on to great achievements. She did. She was a force for the field she chose and the people she inspired. Our condolence to her family.
Christoph Giebel
February 26, 2017
My condolences, with much respect and gratitude for Marilyn and her work.
Deborah Levenson
February 22, 2017
I am so sad. Marilyn meant the world to us women graduate students at NYU when she arrived. I remember her job talk, and just being thrilled when she said she had finally figured out her thoughts for it on the plane to NY.
She encouraged us to let the passions we had for the historian's craft move us along, and she cheerfully told us to change the world.
Laura Belmonte
February 22, 2017
Marilyn was a force of nature with an infectious laugh, a razor-sharp mind, and an unquenchable passion for social justice. She inspired me and countless other women working in the field of U.S. foreign relations. It's hard to imagine SHAFR without her.
February 22, 2017
Marilyn joined an NYU department that was a white male preserve for almost a century when we hired her along with two other great women specifically to open it up in 1977-78. It was she who put together an iconic Women's History Program. Dave Reimers, Al Romasco and I all had teenage feminist daughters who educated us even as our first new women PhD students did. Marilyn, not incidentally, was the first woman to chair that department . A good life well lived.
Carl Prince
Michael Dawson
February 22, 2017
Vietnam Wars is a timeless classic, a model for serious truth-telling.
Harry Haines
February 22, 2017
Very sad news. Marilyn was loved and respected by many Vietnam War vets and activists familiar with her work. Her history of the war is one of the most insightful analyses, and her appreciation of the soldier's knowledge made her one of us. My condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.
Miriam Frank
February 22, 2017
Marilyn Young, we connected in the free spaces between meetings and classes, walking fast, catching up. Thank you for those warm moments and the strength of your work.
Martin Rivlin
February 21, 2017
Terrible news. Glad that she passed peacefully. Leaves a huge gulf as a person , activist and scholar.
Geoff Smith
February 21, 2017
A woman of uncommon valor and intelligence, Marilyn detested war and violence, and this attitude shone through her life and her work. Always helpful to colleagues and younger historians, she leaves a light for all of us to emulate. Godspeed and thanks for the memories!
February 21, 2017
After being together with her late mother Mollie for the past fifteen years and learning to love the closeness of marilyn and her family, my heart is broken at the loss of marilyn so shortly after her mother. bill robbins
M. B.
February 21, 2017
I express my sincere condolences. May the many fond memories created through the years bring you comfort. Psalms 94:22
Michael Gillen
February 21, 2017
I too am very sad to learn of Marilyn's passing. Her work had an impact on me, and I will always be grateful for her guidance and support as I completed my doctorate at NYU. Working as her teaching assistant in her Vietnam course was an honor, and inspired and informed my own teaching of that course, elsewhere, for many years. Rest in peace, Marilyn. Thank you, so much.
nora paley
February 21, 2017
This is wierd. Marilyn it is lonely on earth without your mirth, intelligence and profound depth of feeling.
Michael Young
February 21, 2017
In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the War Resisters League in honor of Marilyn Young: https://www.warresisters.org
Barbara Winslow
February 21, 2017
I am so sad about our loss, but am so grateful for her life. Along with the millions of wonderful things Marilyn did, wrote and said, she explained post modernism to my mother. My mother was a fan as well. Deepest condolences to family, colleagues and friends.
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Riverside Memorial Chapel - New York180 West 76th Street, New York City, NY 10023
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