Patricia Hochschild Labalme, Renaissance Scholar And Educator

Patricia H. Labalme, a scholar of the Renaissance who was also known for her dedication to independent school education, died October 11 at her home in New York City. She was 75 years old and had fought a 14-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Labalme was Associate Director of the Institute for Advanced Study from 1982 to 1988 and Secretary of the Corporation from 1982 until 1992. From 1992 to 1997, she was Assistant to the Director, Phillip A. Griffiths. She was a Visitor in the School of Historical Studies in 1997-98.

At the time of her death, Dr. Labalme was close to completing a one-volume English edition of selections from the 58-volume Venetian diaries of Marin Sanudo (1496-1533). The project received initial funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Labalme’s co-editor, Professor Laura Sanguineti White of Rutgers University, will oversee the book’s completion.

Recognized as an Italian Renaissance scholar with a special focus on Venice, Dr. Labalme was the author of Bernardo Giustiniani: A Venetian of the Quattrocento (1969). She edited, contributed to, and published a collection of essays, Beyond Their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past (1980). In addition, she edited and contributed to a centennial history of Bryn Mawr College, A Century Recalled: Essays in Honor of Bryn Mawr College (1987). Dr. Labalme published numerous articles in historical journals in this country and abroad. Her teaching career included positions at Wellesley, Barnard, and Hunter colleges, and she lectured in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program of New York University.

Dr. Labalme was a trustee of the Renaissance Society of America from 1982 to the present, as well as of the American Academy in Rome from 1979-1999. She was a trustee of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation from 1979 until her death. Dr. Labalme joined the board of the Brearley School in 1975, and was president from 1978 to 1982, later becoming a Life Trustee. In 1985, she became the first female trustee of the Lawrenceville School, serving until 1996. She also was a director of the Independent Schools Chairmen Association and Phi Beta Kappa Associates.

Dr. Labalme attended the Brearley School (1944), graduated magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College (1948), and received her M.A. (1950) and Ph.D. (1958) in history from Harvard University, where she was awarded the Caroline A. Wilby prize for her doctoral dissertation as “the best original work in any department.”

She is survived by her husband, George, of New York City; four children, Jennifer Labalme of Indianapolis, Ind.; Henry Labalme of New York City and West Cornwall, Conn.; Lisa Osterland of Montreal, Canada; and Victoria Labalme of New York City; six grandchildren; and a sister Ann H. Poole of Princeton.

A memorial service will be held in New York City at a later date. Contributions may be sent to the Brearley School.