Carol Chomsky, wife of Prof. Noam Chomsky, passes away at 78

[MrScorpio]

By Bryan Marquard
Globe Staff / December 20, 2008

Brilliant and accomplished, Carol Chomsky taught for many years at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and wrote oft-cited articles about how young children learn to read. And yet, she possessed talents that didn't easily fit on a curriculum vitae.

"She was a pretty remarkable person," said Judith Chomsky of Philadelphia, who is married to the younger brother of Dr. Chomsky's husband, Noam. "She was very athletic, and, until she was ill, she was fishing and water skiing and doing things people wouldn't normally associate with her. She played the accordion. She could fix a car. She was mechanical. I mean, she was the one who fixed everything at the house."

Through her work in language development and psycholinguistics, Dr. Chomsky also helped young children learn the mechanics of reading, and by doing so gain greater social acceptance in their classrooms. Dr. Chomsky died of cancer yesterday at her Lexington home. She was 78.

"She was a very upbeat, happy kind of a person," said Sylvia Schatz of Burlington, who is Dr. Chomsky's sister-in-law. "She was also a very giving person, of herself and of her thoughts, of her ideas, of her suggestions. And she was very generous, both in material things and with her support and help in many ways."

Among Dr. Chomsky's duties was, at times, acting as a de facto gatekeeper for those seeking access to her husband, a linguistics professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose writings and political activism made him famous in ways neither of them could have imagined when they married in 1949.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/12/20/carol_chomsky_at_78_harvard_language_professor_was_wife_of_mit_linguist/

May she rest in peace.

[SeattleGirl]

1. May she rest in peace.

I love this quote: "She played the accordion. She could fix a car. She was mechanical. I mean, she was the one who fixed everything at the house."

Sounds like my kind of woman.

[malaise]

2. Deepest sympathy to Noam and family

This must be devastating for him.

[Triana]

3. WOW. What a fantabulous woman.

Sincerest condolences to Noam and his family. She was a remarkable woman and will obviously be sorely missed.

R.I.P. Carol Chomsky

[booley]

4. is it just me?

Or have a lot of great women died recently?

[eridani]

5. This is sad

Even though just about everyone over 60 is probably going to be a "surviving spouse" someday, it's still devastating when it actually happens.