L'dor V'dor Endowment Fund
Anita Herzfeld (1932-2021), long-time resident of Lawrence and Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Latin American Studies at the University of Kansas was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1932. Her parents, Walter Herzfeld and Emmy Fischbein de Herzfeld, immigrated from Germany a decade after World War I. Anita earned a bachelor’s degree in sciences in Buenos Aires and studied both in Wales and England to pass the Cambridge University English Certificate examination. She returned to Buenos Aires to teach English.
In 1961, Anita obtained a Fulbright grant to study American literature at the University of Kansas. She earned a Master’s Degree in English with a strong emphasis in Linguistics. Anita returned to Buenos Aires and became Director of Modern Languages at the University of Buenos Aires. These were turbulent political times in Argentine--military police intervened daily in campus affairs, sometimes using tear gas.
At the suggestion of KU’s Dean of the College, George Waggoner, who had become a close friend, she left Argentina and directed groups of KU Junior Year Abroad students at the University of Costa Rica from 1968-1970. The years when Anita taught Linguistics at the University of Costa Rica (as part of the exchange agreement) were happy ones for Anita and
her parents. The students became members of their “extended family,” and the Herzfelds were graciously welcomed by Costa Rican professors and students.
Dean Waggoner advised Anita to return to KU to pursue a Ph.D. in the newly created Department of Linguistics. Her parents returned to Argentina. While studying, she worked both as advisor in the then-called “Foreign Study Office,” and as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Linguistics. In 1977, she became Director of the Office of Study Abroad and
later (1981-85) became Associate Director of International Programs. Her parents joined Anita and lived with her until their deaths, in 1980 and 1983. She had lost most of her other relatives in the Holocaust.
Because of parental illness and death, Anita took a leave of absence from KU. In 1985, she took a position at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. as Executive Director of Central American Peace Scholarships. For five years, she trained Central American students for middle-level careers at U.S. technical colleges. Hundreds of students were first trained in
English, while they learned about life in the U.S. Later, they received practical training and attended regular courses at 10 community or technical colleges nationwide. When the U.S. training grant came to an end, Anita moved back to KU.
She worked at the Center of Latin American Studies for 20 years as an advisor to majors and minors and as Director of Undergraduates. She also taught Latin American sociolinguistics. Anita was awarded more than 10 teaching and research international grants, including Fulbrights. As Director of Study Abroad, she established more than 40 student KU exchange
programs.
Teaching, music, and travel were her passions. Anita retired in 2012 but continued teaching in the Honors Program. She often came to services as well as to many social events at the LJCC. If we saw a bright red car parked outside, we knew Anita was there. She loved to socialize and travel for pleasure. Anita was much-admired, and she was always impeccably
dressed and coiffed. She is buried in B’nai Israel Cemetery, in Eudora, Kansas, along with her parents.