In Memoriam: Cynthia Griffin Wolff, 1936-2024

Cynthia Griffin Wolff, longtime professor of humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, passed away on July 25. She was 87 years old.

Dr. Wolff began her career in higher eduction as an assistant professor of English at Mahattanville College in New York. She soon transitioned to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she served as a tenured professor of English and American literature. In 1980, she began her tenure with MIT that spanned more two decades. As the endowed Class of 1922 Professor of Humanities, she taught in the literature section, as well as the program in writing and humanistic studies. She retired from MIT in 2003.

As a scholar, Dr. Wolff conducted extensive research into 19th- and 20th-century American women writers. She edited and authored several books and biographies including Emily Dickinson (Knopf, 1986) and A Feast of Worlds: The Triumph of Edith Wharton (Oxford University Press, 1977).

Dr. Wolff completed her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She briefly attended Harvard Medical School, but ultimately went on to earn her Ph.D. in English from Harvard University.