Debby Smullyan

A concentrator in Slavic languages and literatures, Debby Smullyan worked as an undergraduate and for a couple of years after graduation in the Slavic Division at Widener Library. Soon she found herself drawn to the editing profession. She was editorial officer in the Harvard University Library from 1975 to 1978, when she became the copy editor at Harvard Magazine. In 1982 she commenced a 20-year maternity leave, during which time, besides coddling her two children, she volunteered actively in the civic and school affairs of her town, Milton, MA, and developed a few hobbies. In 2003, when her younger child left the nest for college, she joined the Class Report Office as an editor. It was a job she loved going to, every day, for 18 years. She was the editor of a total of 16 Fiftieth Reports. She took over the writing of the alumni obituaries in Harvard Magazine in 1993, when the editor at the time decided to take a motherhood sabbatical of six months; three decades later, she is still writing them.

Debby enjoys homey sorts of things, like gardening, quilting, and baking. She recently started playing the piano again, after a hiatus of—let’s see, how old is her son?—40 years, and is grateful to find that muscle memory actually is a thing. She now has two grandchildren, ages three and one, who call upon the rest of the muscle. She lost her favorite thing, her husband, John Sullivan ’71, at the end of 2016.