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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY The State University of New Jersey Department of Sociology Irving Louis Horowitz New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903 Hannah Arendt Distinguished Professor of Telephone: 908-932-2280 Sociology and Political Science Telefax: 908-932-3138 August 27th, 1994 Professor Lewis A. Coser 27 Shepard Street Cambridge Massachusetts 02138-1504 Dear Lew: I join my colleagues in extending the deepest regrets at the passing of Rose. By the number of telephone calls we received at Transaction, I realize ever more forcefully, what a huge loss she represents. These are difficult days for us all. In the last months alone we have lost Sar Levitan, R. Serge Denisoff, and now Rose. Of course, the personal catastrophe is hardly offset by the professional losses that seem to never end. We can not restore the soul to the person, but the grand element in the Jewish tradition is sacred nature of the word. And in this, with the new edition of the essays in honor of Rose - Social Roles and Social Institutions - we can at least say that the unity that the Cosers represent is carried forth. A Handful of Thistles remains very much in print. Lew, if you could provide me with Rose's date of birth, we will run a brief statement in SOCIETY. Be strong. Cordially, ILH:md cc: file copy Ac?c; /tfrjm/tf** Wei A^j v^ (<&<{ 24, 1994 m RoseL. Coser, 78, Sociology Professor In Boston and on L.I. By WOLFGANG SAXON Rose Laub Coser, a sociologist and professor emeritus at the State Uni versity of New York at Stony Brook, / died on Sunday at her summer home in Wellfleet, Mass. She was 78. Dr. Coser, who lived in Cambridge, Mass., died of kidney failure, her fam ily said. She taught at Stony Brook from 1968 until her retirement in 1987, af ter which she moved to Cambridge. At her death she was an adjunct professor of sociology at Boston Col lege, specializing in the family and medical sociology. She was born in Berlin and reared in Belgium; she came to the United States in 1939. She started studying philosophy at the New School for So cial Research but switched to sociolo gy at Columbia University, where she earned her Ph.D. under the supervi sion of Robert K. Merton. Taught Sociology at Harvard Dr. Coser began her teaching ca reer as an instructor at Wellesley College. In 1959 she began teaching at the Harvard University Medical School as an assistant professor of sociology in the department of psy chiatry, and later became an associ ate professor. She also taught at Northeastern University in Boston. She was the author of "Life in the Ward" (1962) and was involved as a contributor to or editor of "Sociologi cal Studies of Health and Sickness" (1960), "Studies in the Hospital" (1963) and "The Family, Its Struc ture and Functions" (revised in 1974). Her recent writing includes "Training in Ambiguity: Learning Through Doing in a Mental Hospital" (1979), "In Defense of Modernity: Role Complexity and Individual Au tonomy" (1991) and "Laughter Among Colleagues" (1993). All three books remain in print. &^r Dr. Coser is survived by her hus band of 52 years, Dr. Lewis A. Coser, also a sociologist; a daughter, Dr. J? Ellen C. Perrin of Brookline, Mass.; a son, Steven M. of Melrose, Mass., and Y- three grandchildren. /1A- o^\3^jJ^_f .