In Memoriam: Phyllis Janowitz, 1930-2014

Phyllis Janowitz, professor emerita of English at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, died late last month at a nursing home in Montour Falls, New York. She was 84 years old.

Professor Janowitz taught poetry and creative writing at Cornell for nearly 30 years. She was director of the creative writing program from 1980 to 1983 and again from 1986 to 1991. She retired from teaching and was granted emerita status in 2009.

Professor Janowitz was a magna cum laude graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York. She earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before joining the faculty at Cornell in 1980, Professor Janowitz taught at Harvard University and Princeton University.

Professor Janowitz was the author of three collections of poetry including most recently Temporary Dwellings (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987).