Memorial service for María Rosa Menocal

There will be a memorial service on Saturday, Dec. 1, for María Rosa Menocal, Sterling Professor of the Humanities and former director of the Whitney Humanities Center, who died on Oct. 15 after a three-year battle with melanoma.

The service will take place at 1 p.m. in Battell Chapel, corner of College and Elm streets. Members of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Whitney Humanities Center, and the Offices of the President and Secretary invite Menocal’s colleagues and friends to join them on this occasion in celebrating her life.

Menocal focused her research on the literary traditions of the Middle Ages and on the interaction of various religious and cultural groups in medieval Spain. She received international acclaim for her 2002 book, “The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain,” which describes the rich cross-fertilization that took place among those religious groups.