[Air-L] Sad News: Death of Brenda Danet

[Naomi Susan Baron]

Yesterday, the world of internet research lost a dear friend and 
colleague. Brenda Danet died in New Haven, CT, following a heroic (and 
most graceful) battle with leukemia. Despite her years of ups and downs 
with the disease, she continued to produce work that guides many of us and 
our students.

Brenda was a pioneer -- intellectually and personally. She did her  BA at 
Radcliffe and PhD (in Sociology) at the University of Chicago, but spent 
most of her professional life in Israel. She taught at Hebrew University, 
where she was appointed Danny Arnold Chair of Communications in 1998. 
Following her retirement in 2000, she migrated back to the US, where she 
became a Research Affiliate in Anthropology at Yale.

Most of us know Brenda from her delightful book CyberPlay, and her more 
recent co-edited volume (with Susan Herring) on The Multilingual Internet. 
Those of us fortunate enough to have known Brenda in person cherish our 
memories of a strong, self-confident woman who inspired us to think, was 
full of wit, wore the most lovely scarves, and helped us laugh at 
ourselves.

Brenda will be very sorely missed.

Naomi Baron
American University
Washington, DC  USA