Janina C. Esselen, professor emerita of neuroscience at the University of Connecticut, died on October 2 at the Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was 100 years old.
Professor Esselen was raised in Hadley, Massachusetts. She was a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Esselen held master’s degrees from Cornell University and Harvard University and an educational doctorate from Boston University.
After serving as a dietitian for the U.S. Army during World War II, Dr. Esselen joined the faculty of the School of Home Economics at the University of Connecticut in 1947. In 1972, she became the director of the community nutrition program in the department of nutritional sciences. Dr. Esselen retired in 1983.