Ian Ralston has written this tribute to a great librarian, educator and friend of the Centre, who died this month.
It is with great sadness that I have to report the sudden death on May 3rd of a
great friend of the ASRC, Pam Wonsek, at the age of 55, in Beth Israel Medical
Center, Manhattan, New York. Pam had been a great supporter and active member of
the ASRC’s US Advisory Panel for nearly ten years. This began after I first met
Pam at a session of the Salzburg Seminar in Austria where she was participating
as a guest lecturer. Pam then became a major supporter of our work and a valued
contributor to American Studies Today. In addition to this she also provided
invaluable research support when others would have given up. But above all this,
Pam became a great personal friend. Born in Los Angeles, Pam’s mother was a
professional dancer and her father an accomplished major league baseball player.
She was educated at the University of Massachusetts, Simon College Boston and
City University New York, where she became Deputy Chief Librarian and lecturer
in Communications in the Department of Film and Media. All those who came into
contact with Pam not only recognised her great sense of internationalism but
also her professional commitment and skills. Above all though, to all those who
became her friends, was her infectious sense of humour and her immense
generosity. I know I speak for all her friends and colleagues, not only in the
US and at Hunter College (CUNY), but also in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark,
Germany, India, the Lebanon, Spain and of course the UK, when I say that Pam
brought a lot of fun into our lives. She was also a major influence in
developing international cooperation and understanding between those involved in
the study of the US right across the world. All of us will desperately miss her.
American Studies Resource Centre 