Lucy Taxis Shoe Meritt

Lucy Taxis Shoe Meritt of Austin died Sunday, April 13, 2003. She was born August 7, 1906, in Camden, New Jersey. Lucy Shoe Meritt was a distinguished, internationally known classicist and archaeologist. Dr. Lucy Shoe Meritt received her Bachelor of Arts degree, 1927, her Master of Arts in Classical Archaeology and Greek, 1928, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Archaeology and Greek, 1935, all from Bryn Mawr College. Honors include the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement, 1976; an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Brown University, 1974; and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hamilton College, 1994. Lucy Shoe Meritt became a fellow of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens in 1929, where, for five years, she performed field work and ground-breaking research on Greek archaeology, with emphasis on the architectural mouldings and other details of classical temples and other buildings. She was twice Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (1937 and 1950), where she continued her work on Greek, Etruscan, and Roman architecture. Lucy Meritt taught archaeology and Greek at Mount Holyoke College.. She was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey. She founded the publications office for the American School of Classical Studies and became its editor from 1950 to 1972. Dr. Meritt was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin since 1973 and taught here as a Professor of classical archaeology 1973-74, 1975-76, and 1990. Lucy Meritt's publications include many articles, reviews and five books, Profiles of Greek Mouldings, Profiles of Western Greek Mouldings, Profiles of Etruscan and Republican Roman Mouldings, History of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and recently, in 2002, a revised re-issue of Etruscan and Roman Republican Mouldings, with Ingrid Edlund-Berry.

A memorial service at the University of Texas at Austin is planned for the February 15, 2004 in the University of Texas Union.