Greek scholar taught 45 years at Bryn Mawr

Mabel Lang, 92, a prominent scholar, archaeologist, and professor emeritus at Bryn Mawr College who was beloved for her introductory course on Greek and for stage-managing faculty shows, died of heart failure Wednesday, July 21, at home in Rosemont.

Dr. Lang earned a master's degree and a doctorate in Greek studies from Bryn Mawr and, while a graduate student, was a dormitory residential adviser or "warden."

She joined the faculty in 1943. In the next 45 years, almost a thousand students took her undergraduate "baby" Greek course, former Bryn Mawr president Mary Patterson McPherson said.

Besides being an inspiring, caring, and demanding teacher, McPherson said, Dr. Lang was a prominent scholar, and her graduate seminars on Homer and Thucydides set a standard in her field.

For 27 years until retiring in 1988, Dr. Lang chaired the Bryn Mawr Greek department. She wrote more than 50 articles and 12 books.

She continued to write and do research after retiring, and her book on Thucydides, an ancient Greek historian, will be published this fall, said McPherson, who was a close friend.

Dr. Lang's chief academic interests were Greek history and epigraphy, the study and deciphering of ancient inscriptions. She spent summers on excavations in such places as Gordion in Turkey, the Acropolis and the Agora in Athens, and the Palace of King Nestor in Pylos, Greece.

Dr. Lang was awarded Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and received many honors. She was a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the German Archaeological Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi.

In addition to her research and teaching at Bryn Mawr, she served as acting dean of the college and dean of the sophomore class and was secretary of the faculty from 1970 to 1975.

Her credits as stage manager include the faculty shows Standing Room Only, Top Secret, Kind Hearts and Martinets, and The Profs in the Pudding.

A native of Hamilton, N.Y., Dr. Lang played basketball at Hamilton High School and was an avid swimmer, said her sister, Marian Blanchard. She once swam across the lake near her home in frigid weather. She had to break the ice first, her sister said, and when a photographer for the local paper wanted to take her picture, she swam across again.

Dr. Lang earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University, where her professor of Greek encouraged her to pursue graduate studies. While in college, she worked one summer on a chicken farm on Cape Cod.

When she visited her family in later years, she always took her knitting, Blanchard said. She created designs in yellow and white - Bryn Mawr's colors - for socks sold at college fund-raisers. She loved decorating the gingerbread men at Christmas and was always generous to her niece and nephews, her sister said.

In addition to her sister, Dr. Lang is survived by a niece and four nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 3, in Thomas Great Hall at Bryn Mawr College.

Memorial donations may be made to the Mabel Lang Fund in the Humanities, Bryn Mawr College, Resource Office, 101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010.