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AROUND THE QUADS

In Memoriam

Lea Baechler, assistant dean of academic affairs and a member of the Dean’s Office staff since 1998, passed away on October 1 at the age of 52. Baechler was involved in almost all of the College’s endeavors and was well-known and respected by students, administrators and alumni.

Born in Milford, Del., Baechler moved with her family to Hollywood, Fla., and graduated from South Broward H.S. After earning her B.A. from Florida International University, Baechler earned a master’s from the University of Idaho in 1977 and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia in 1987. At the time of her death, she was putting the final touches on her Columbia doctoral dissertation, “Twentieth Century American Elegies: Loss, Mourning and Poetic Process.”

Dean Austin Quigley, who spoke at the memorial service held in Baechler’s honor on October 5 at St. Paul’s Chapel, noted how much of Baechler’s work focused on “finding strength in what’s left behind.” The program at the service noted, “Lea was taken by the challenge of articulating through poetry the process of mourning and loss. Her interest in the elegiac genre, and, in particular, elegies written by poets to their children or parents, exemplifies Lea’s very intimate and direct relationship with poetry. As a poet and a reader of poets, Lea turned to poetry as a key to understanding and opening the universe.”

Quigley noted Baechler’s ability to be, within moments of each other, “personal, profound and professional.” He said that whenever there was a student who thought that the rules perhaps did not apply to him or her, or who needed help understanding policies, or had a growing career outside of Columbia (Julia Stiles and Peter Cincotti, for example) or needed other special assistance, “We sent them to Lea.” Baechler was equally adept at figuring out ways to help a student maneuver through the requirements as at explaining why a student’s request was being rejected. “Here is where Lea’s gifts as a teacher were luminescent,” said Dean of Academic Affairs Kathryn Yatrakis. “She would listen very, very carefully, and after a quiet, yet engaged, discussion, students would leave her office more knowledgeable not only about the reasons for the rejection of a particular appeal or complaint, but … knowing more about themselves and invariably feeling better armed to move forward with their academic work.”

Baechler saw herself as an educator and enjoyed teaching English, creative writing and Literature Humanities. She taught at Columbia, Barnard, Princeton and Idaho. Her personal interests included spending time with her family; she was exceptionally close to her two sisters and three nieces. She also enjoyed the ocean and beaches, the Idaho mountains and long drives.
Baechler had planned to participate in the October 17 “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walk; memorial contribution checks may be sent (payable to American Cancer Society) to Office of the Dean, Columbia College, 208 Hamilton Hall, MC 2805, 1130 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027.

Lisa Palladino

Robert Denoon Cumming, Frederick J.E. Woodbridge professor emeritus of philosophy and historian of 20th century European thought, died on August 25. He was 87.
A Columbia professor for 37 years, Cumming retired in 1985; he served as philosophy department chairman from 1961–64. The culmination of his work was the publication of a four-volume study of European history. Issued across a 10-year period, the volumes — Phenomenology and Deconstruction: The Dream Is Over (1991), Method and Imagination (1992), Solitude (2001) and Breakdown in Communication (2002) — discuss the work of Husserl, Sartre, Heidegger and others. A key work, Starting Point: An Introduction to the Dialectic of Existence (1996), remains in print.
Cumming was born on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and traveled extensively in Europe and Palestine before graduating from Harvard in 1938. A Rhodes scholar at Oxford, he stayed in Europe to serve in combat intelligence during World War II. Part of a liaison team with the Free French Army which took part in the liberation of Paris, Cumming earned the French Croix de Guerre for bravery as well as the Legion of Merit. After studying at the Sorbonne, he received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1950.
Cumming is survived by his wife of 56 years, Dr. Jeanne Hannan Cumming; daughter, Ann D. Cumming; sister, Isabel Seimer; and a grandson.

Matthew Goldberg ’05 GS

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