In Memoriam: Robin Siegel Theurkauf, Lecturer in International Relations

A memorial service will be held on Friday, July 17, for Robin Siegel Theurkauf, a lecturer in political science, who died on July 10 after a long struggle with cancer. She was 51.

The service will take place at 11 a.m. at Marquand Chapel at the Divinity School, 409 Prospect St.

Theurkauf taught courses in international relations and was an expert in human rights and international law. Her research focused on the question of order in the international system, the development of constructivist theories of international relations and religion in international relations.

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Theur­kauf is a member of the Yale Class of 1980 and a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford. She earned a Ph.D. in political science at Yale in 2001 and an M.Div. from the Yale Divinity School in 2008.

Theurkauf lost her first husband, Thomas Theurkauf, in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. An opponent of the death penalty, she testified during the victim impact portion of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person tried in the United States in connection with the attacks. She served as a seminary intern to the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Theurkauf is survived by her husband, the Reverend James K. Poinsett; three sons, Thomas Francis Theurkauf III, Edward Arthur Theurkauf and Charles Henry Theurkauf; her parents, Arthur and Judy Siegel of New Hartford, Connecticut; a sister, Jennifer Ahlberg of Redding, Connecticut; and two brothers, Jim Siegel of West Hartford, Connecticut, and Rob Siegel of Stratton,Vermont. She is also survived by two sister-in-laws, Barbara and Patricia Theurkauf of Glastonbury, Connecticut; and a brother-in-law, William Theurkauf of Sterling, Massachusetts.