Ethel Boissevain Lesser

Obituary
ETHEL BOISSEVAIN LESSER
Ethel Boissevain Lesser, 89, died Friday, November 29, 2002, in Ithaca, NY. Ethel Boissevain Lesser was born in New York City on February 5, 1913. She received a BA from Vassar College in 1934, then studied at Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia, where in 1936 she was awarded a Ph.D. in Archaeology. Professor Boissevain taught at Hunter College and Herbert Lehman College of the City University of New York as well as at Drew University, NJ. She developed an evening graduate program in Anthropology at Herbert Lehman College and directed the research of numerous graduate students. Professor Boissevain is the past Chairman of the New York Academy of Sciences, Anthropology Division. Her specialties included human figurines of the Neolithic period and the ethnohistory of the Narragansett Indians of Rhode Island. Her publications include The Narragansett People, a history of the Narragansett Tribe. Professor Boissevain is survived by her sister, Caroline Lyon of Carlsbad, NM; four children, Caroline Bassett of Minneapolis, MN, William Lesser of Ithaca, NY, Katherine Reynolds of Weehawken, NJ, and Thomas Lesser of Roseville, MN; and four grandchildren. The Lessers were part-time residents of Ithaca since 1988, and residents at Kendal of Ithaca since 1997. A memorial service for both Arthur and Ethel Lesser will be held at noon, January 4, 2003, at the Westminster Unitarian Church, 119 Kenyon Ave, East Greenwich, RI 02818. Ethel died just days after Arthur, on November 23, 2002. A luncheon to follow. Donations, in lieu of flowers, can be made to the Rhode Island Historical Society, c/o Bernard Fishman, Director, RIHS, 110 Benevolent St., Providence, RI 02906.