Dr. Marjorie Lightfoot passed away on September 27, 2014. She is survived by a brother and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister. She attained her bachelor's degree from Brown University with a full scholarship. A phi beta kappa, she took her master's and doctorate at Northwestern University, followed by four years of teaching. The following four years she taught at the University of Arizona and then forty years at ASU, retiring in 2004. She was known for her devotion to literature and learning and her specialty was modern fiction and poetry in the twentieth century. She wrote dramatic scripts of great documents of English and American literature, directing and often acting herself with other members of the department at both ASU and nationally in works of Chaucer, the Brontes, Maria Edgeworth, Virginia Woolf and Henry James. Through her travels to Africa University she learned that two thirds of the women in the world are illiterate but they comprise half of the student population. The Marjorie Jean Lightfoot Endowed Scholarship Fund will educate women from Kenya and Tanzania for generations to come. A Memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 10:00 a.m., Dayspring United Methodist Church, 1365 E Elliot Rd, Tempe AZ 85284. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Africa University c/o The Marjorie Jean Lightfoot Endowed Scholarship Fund PO Box 340007 Nashville, TN 37203. (Source: Arizona Republic)