More than thirty years a writer on medicine and science. She was fluent in several languages including Latin and ancient Greek, and her brownstone on the Upper West Side was full of books. She was at work on a book about the scientific contributions of Ivy League graduates. She was flying to visit friends in California.

Killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on the morning of 11 September 2001. The aircraft had left Newark forty-two minutes late, which is the only reason those aboard learned by telephone what had already happened in New York before theirs was taken. They had about thirty minutes. They voted, and they went forward at the cockpit door. The aircraft never reached what it was aimed at.