LouiseBERGE (Holstein)January 30, 1938-February 17, 2022 We are sad to announce the death of Dr. Louise Robertson on February 17, 2022, in Fullerton, California. She was born on January 30, 1938 in Berkeley, California, the youngest daughter of Chester and Jane Rose Holstein, both of Rochester, New York. She grew up in Albany, California, with some time in Albuquerque, New Mexico during World War II. Her early years were marked by the war, with her father serving in the Navy for long periods. Louise had a deep and abiding respect for her father, all veterans of WWII, and the American ideals her father had fought for. Another role model to Louise was her aunt, Belle Rifkin, from whom she learned her lifelong interest in spirituality, health foods, and character development. She graduated from Albany High School (1955), and attended the University of California Berkeley, where she earned a B.A. in Mathematics (1960). While an undergraduate, she worked in the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory as a lab technician for the Louis Alvarez group, and briefly at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich (1958). She also became one of the first women to join the US Air Force ROTC, which sent her to Washington D.C. and to Russia for a semester. At the 'Rad Lab', she met Peter Berge; they were married in 1959 and had two children, Eric (b. 1961) and Anna (b. 1966). She switched majors, taking an M.A. in Classical Archaeology (1964) from UC Berkeley, and worked on numerous excavations in England, Italy, and Greece, this last under the leadership of Prof. J.K. Anderson. In 1966, when Peter accepted a postdoctoral position in Oxford, England, Louise received a Fulbright Fellowship to continue her doctoral studies at St. Hugh's College, Oxford University, where she studied with Prof. C. Martin Robertson, and received her D.Phil. in 1975. The family moved to Geneva, Switzerland in 1971, where Peter had a position at the European Centre for Nuclear Research. In 1974, they moved again to Illinois, where Louise became Curator of Classical Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). Over the next decade, she taught at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, authored a number of articles with Prof. Warren G. Moon, put on several very well-received shows for the AIC, including Pompeii AD 79, Greek Vase Paintings in Midwestern Collections (both in 1979-80), and the Search for Alexander (1981). In the mid-1980's, her marriage with Peter Berge ended, and in 1988, she married Martin Robertson and moved to Cambridge, England. She spent over 20 years there, enjoying Martin's love and companionship, and his family and friends. They took numerous cruises, enjoyed plays, fine dining, walks in the countryside, and more. Shortly after he passed away in 2004, she was diagnosed with tongue cancer. She fought bravely and despite enormous and lasting nerve pain in her mouth that lasted for the rest of her life, she maintained the strength and will to live life to the fullest. In 2010, she moved to Morningside Independent Living in Fullerton, California, close to her son. Louise made dear and lasting friends wherever she lived, and she maintained her relationship with them through her impressive letter-writing. She was a dedicated cleaner, having learned the art from a Swiss house cleaner in her youth, and she truly enjoyed the little details of daily life. She was known for the care with which she acknowledged the people she interacted with, leaving them little gifts, flowers, and cards. She was dedicated to Judaism and in love with the classical cultural heritage of Western Europe. She continued studying both to the day she passed away. Louise was buried in Cambridge, next to her husband Martin. She is survived by her sister and brother-in-law Mabel and Jochanan Stenesh, her children Eric and Anna, and her granddaughter Frances, her nephew Oron Stenesh, her step-children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and by many extended family members and friends. Donations in her honour can be made to the Jewish National Fund, Hadassah, World Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, the Shelter, Classics for All, or Save the Children.
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