Professor Maureen Annette Robertson

Professor Maureen Annette Robertson passed peacefully on July 27, 2023.

Daughter of the late William (Pat) & Leola (Peg) Lahey. Sister of her beloved brother, David Lahey (Ruth); Mother of, Shannon Huddleston Lovetinsky (Larry) and Morgan Robertson; Nana of: Austen Lucansky (Shealyn) Ryann Jardine (Patrick), Landon Lucansky (Justine Seurer), Grace Robertson; Great-Nana of: Carter & Avery Jardine and Leighton Lucansky; Nephews: John Lahey, Steve Lahey (Jamie), and Joe Wickman (Wendy).                                                                                                                                                            

Maureen loved her pets, gardening, cooking, Aikido, Hickory Hill, music, dance, the northwest,  Asia, and a competitive game of dining room table tennis. Maureen was dedicated to her profession and students. She taught at the University of Washington (Seattle), University of Rochester, and the University of Iowa.

Maureen was Director Emerita of the MFA in Literary Translation at the University of Iowa, and Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature and Asian Languages. Her work focused on materials by educated women of the governing class in seventeenth-nineteenth century dynastic China. She held research appointments at the National Diet Library in Tokyo, Meiji University, Harvard University, and Fudan University. She dreamt often of retiring to San Juan Island, never believing her time would run out. (In her words, “We’ll see about that”). She loved her pets, she would never kill a creature that found its way into her home, be it a spider or a bat.

In memory, donations can be made in her name to: Iowa City Animal Shelter, 3910 Napoleon Ln., Iowa City, IA, 52240. (https://icanimalcenter.org/207/Donate).