Wilga M. Rivers

Of Watertown, Massachusetts, originally of Melbourne, Australia, Professor Emerita of Romance Languages at Harvard University, died peacefully on June 23, 2007 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. She was an internationally renowned scholar and author, and one of the first women to be appointed to a full Professorship at Harvard. Professor Rivers was the daughter of the late John and Nina (Lehmann) Rivers and the sister of the late Lynda Rivers, and Regg, Less and Harald Tanner, also of Melbourne. She is survived by her sister-in-law Bess Tanner and a niece Christine Levey of Melbourne, a nephew Michael Tanner of Sydney, Australia, a niece, Laurelle Hardt of Los Angeles, CA and several grand nieces and grand nephews in Australia. A funeral was held on Saturday, July 7 at the Church of The Good Shepherd in Watertown, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers donations in her memory may be made to the above named church.

A Memorial Service will be held in her honor at Harvard University on October 17, 2007 at 4:30 pm. Please contact Carolyn Fidelman at cgf@agoralang.com if you would like to attend. Directions to Appleton Chapel can be found here.