In Memoriam: Norma Kershaw (1924–2020)

On September 14, 2020, long-time benefactor of archaeological institutes and patroness of archaeology professorships at UCLA and UC San Diego, Norma Kershaw, passed away at the age of 95. She is survived by her daughters, Barbara Tieferet Rosenthal and Janet Kershaw McClellan, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Norma was an avid supporter and promoter of Classical and Near Eastern archaeology, and particularly well-remembered in archaeological circles in the greater New York City region and Southern California. She was a graduate of Queens College where she earned her BA, followed by an MA in 1972 from Columbia University where she studied with famed art historian of the ancient Near East, Edith Porada. Although she did not pursue a PhD, during her education she participated in various archaeological excavations in Israel and Cyprus, regions for which she would serve as a lifelong and enthusiastic advocate and patroness. For nearly twenty years, this interest was expressed in her teaching of history and archaeology courses as part of the Great Neck Adult Program with the Continuing Education Program at Hofstra University and as a lecturer for the United Nations Cultural Affairs Committee (1976–1989).

Kershaw established the Long Island Society of the Archaeological Institute of America in 1968 and the Orange County Society of the same institute in 1991. She joined the Governing Board of the Archaeological Institute of America in 1992. She was a founding member of the American Research Center in Egypt chapter in Orange County and served on the Board of Directors of Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, CA, where the auditorium is named in her honor. It is in this auditorium that many of the lectures of the Archaeological Institute of America and the American Research Center in Egypt in Orange County have been held in recent years. She was especially fond of the work of the American Schools of Oriental Research, of which she was a member for more than fifty years, and served as a trustee as early as 1979  and as an honorary trustee from 1988. As part of her service for the American Schools of Oriental Research she was the founding president of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus, and served steadily on the Board of Directors of the W. F. Albright Institute in Jerusalem, where she endowed the garden in its center; a respite for all who seek its sanctuary.

Between 2005 and 2006, she endowed two chairs in Near Eastern studies. The first at UC San Diego, the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands, which is currently held by Thomas Levy, professor in the Department of Anthropology. The second at UCLA, the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, currently held by the author, following its inaugural holder, William Schniedewind.

Norma believed strongly in the mission of the public university and supported the efforts of faculty engaging graduate and undergraduate students in fieldwork, the principal aim of her support for archaeology and education. She was proud of the presence of UCLA in archaeological fieldwork in Israel, and in 2007 her support made the establishment possible of the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project, which was celebrated in The History and Archaeology of Jaffa: Volume 1 (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press 2011), which was dedicated to her. Kershaw was a regular donor to the Cotsen Institute. Her memory will be carried on in the work of members of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures who hold the Kershaw Chair.

Aaron A. Burke
Professor of the archaeology of ancient Israel and the Levant
Holder of the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Core faculty member of the Cotsen Institute

Captions to the Figures:

Figure 1. Norma and Reuben Kershaw.

Figure 2. Norma Kershaw and William Schniedewind, inaugural Holder of the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures UCLA.