Daisy Elizabeth Shenholm died of heart failure on June 4, 2017, in Hanover, New Hampshire. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 29, 1924, daughter of Carl Joseph Shenholm and Ebba Dorotea Engstrom Shenholm, she graduated from Douglass College in 1944 (B.A. French). In June that year, she married George Edward Brightenback (d. 1990). They divorced in 1973. In 1980, she married Gordon Wood (d. 2008).
Daisy earned her MLS degree from Rutgers University School of Library Science in 1968 and was the director of the Douglass College Library from 1969 until her retirement in1988. She served as president of the Rutgers University Faculty Senate (1986-87). She received the Douglass Medal for outstanding service and support in 1989. With Kristina Baer, she co-authored Leo Spitzer on Language and Literature (MLA 1991).
Daisy is survived by her children, Ebba Kristina Baer (George Webster Baer), Andrea Brightenback (Harold McCoy), Eric Shenholm (Michèle Ratté) and Nils Shenholm; her grandchildren, Brent McCoy (Maya Curvelo), Finn McCoy, Anya Bredbeck (Gabe Erde-Cohen), Yuri Bredbeck, Alexander Talvy, Arianna Talvy, and Anders Shenholm; great-grandchildren, Riley Bredbeck and Charlotte Bredbeck; sister, Monica Shenholm Dowler, nephew Jeffrey Dowler (Kay) and adoptive son, Garth LePere.
Her daughter Carla (James Talvy) predeceased her (2005).
World traveler, bibliophile, Francophile and gourmet cook, Daisy loved music, early American architecture and furniture, and gardening, interests she shared with and cultivated in her children throughout her life.
Donations may be made in Daisy’s name to a charity of the donor’s choice. A service is being planned for a later date.
