Amy Richter, chair of the history department at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, passed away on June 2. She was 57 years old and had suffrd from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
A Clark faculty member since 2000, Dr. Richter specialized in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and cultural history, with an emphasis on women’s and urban history. From 2013 to 2017, she served as director of what is now the Alice Coonley Higgins Institute for Arts and Humanities. She was the author of several publications, including Home on the Rails: Women, the Railroad, and the Rise of Public Domesticity (University of North Carolina Press, 2025).
In addition to her work at Clark University, Dr. Richter was academic director of the Worcester chapter of The Clemente Course in the Humanities, a free educational program for adults facing economic hardship and adverse circumstances. For her contributions to education and her volunteer work, she received Clark University’s John W. Lund Community Achievement Award in 2022. The following year, Worcester Magazine named her a 2023 Hometown Hero.
Dr. Richter received her bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Columbia University in New York City and her Ph.D. in history from New York University.