Stern College for Women - Kochaviah Yearbook (New York, NY)

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; V v. DR. MORRIS EPSTEIN

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April 24, 1974 Dr. Morris Epstein is no longer with us. The College has suffered a great hurt and I have lost an irreplaceable friend. I had the privilege of sharing with Dr. Epstein a friendship which I believe can, without exaggeration, be said to recall the models, classical and biblical, of true and everlasting friendship. One of the greatest joys I had in entering into the Deanship at Stern College was the oppor- tunity it gave me to extend the deep and rich rewards of this friendship into my professional life. The qualities of person and mind which endeared Dr. Epstein to me, made his contribution to Stern College such a rich and significant one. Extremely able, unwilling to settle for anything which was not of the best quality, capable of applying rigorous and exacting standards but doing so with understanding, compassion and humaneness, he was able to contribute immensely to the devel- opment of each individual student, the establishment of a respected department, and the overall intellectual academic and cultural life of Stern College. The mea- sure of how great a place he occupied among us is the fact that every aspect of college life — faculty meetings, committee deliberations. University exercises, student activities and class lectures — brings us, in pain and sorrow, a continued awareness of his absence. Others will come to contribute to the growth of the College, but the void left by the loss of Dr. Epstein ' s abilities and qualities will remain unfillable. We mourn the loss of a great figure, but even more so, the loss of a great friend. Let his memory be bound into eternal life through the contin- ued growth and life of Stern College. DEAN DAVID MIRSKY

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3 December 1973 From far away, I join you in shock and bereave- ment. It ' s at moments like this that we are reduced to remem.bering snatches of elegies that we ' ve taught over and over again, but only as a kind of intellectual exercise, and now, faced with the reality we ask what is it all worth. And then go on, for it is worthwhile — the only bulwark we have against the Spectre ' s conquest of life. This is as Morris wanted it. As we all know, Morris ' imprint upon the depart- ment is permanent. I ' m certain that when we are all in retirement, the practices and traditions he led us into will still exist. And if we happen to go els- where, then we shall carry some of what he did with us to transplant it. Isn ' t that the finest tribute and the greatest consolation? From Jerusalem — Yours, Dan.