Freshman English head Hunter dies after bout with cancer

Diane Hunter, the acting director of the Freshman English program died of cancer Wednesday. Hunter, who was diagnosed with cancer on February 15, died at Bryn Mawr Hospital one day after being admitted. Several administrators said they knew she had cancer but did not expect her illness to progress so quickly. Administrators, teachers and students said they were all shocked by her sudden death and said they will miss her energy and enthusiasm for teaching. They all said the 54-year-old doctoral candidate earned their respect in her four-and-a-half years at the University. Hunter left an administrative position at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr in 1986 to pursue her doctorate at the University in 18th and early 19th century English literature. In 1990, Hunter became the director of Freshman English when David Espey took a one-year leave of absence as a Fulbright fellow. College senior Jennifer Applegate took Hunter's freshman seminar class four years ago. She described Hunter as an energetic teacher who spent the class either perched on the edge of her desk swinging her legs or pacing the room. "She inspired her students," Applegate said. "She was very fair and she was lots of fun." Peter Schurman was also in the freshman seminar class. The College senior said Hunter was a caring teacher who established a rapport with her students. He said Hunter was different because she shared her life with her students and opened up to them, even inviting her students to her house for an end of the semester party. "I don't think the English Department will have an easy time replacing her," Schurman said. English professor Paul Korshin, Hunter's dissertation instructor, said Hunter's position was unique because she was older than most doctoral candidates. He said her teaching and administrative experience enabled her to be one of the best Freshman English directors the department has had in the past 20 years. "Everybody loved her completely," Korshin said. "She knew almost as much as her professors did and that made her very unusual." English Professor David Delaura, who knew Hunter for almost four years, said she brought maturity, experience and freshness to the English department. "For someone who entered our program only three or four years ago, she made an impact on all of us," Delaura said. "Being around her made me feel fortunate to be her teacher, her colleague and her friend." Alice Kelley, the undergraduate chair of the English Department, said that although she did not know Hunter well, she was an extraordinary person who handled her job with ease. Kelley said Hunter cared for each of her students in a very special way. "I'll miss her," Kelley said. "She was somebody I was hoping to get to know well." Hunter, who was born in West Virginia, graduated in 1958 from Wellesley College. After only one year of teaching, she won one of the four or five awards the School of Arts and Sciences gives each year to teaching fellows. Hunter is survived by her husband, Peter, a daughter and two sons. The English Department will have a memorial service for Hunter at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Special Collections department on the sixth floor of Van Pelt Library.

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