Loredana Kun, professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, passed away on Oct. 16. Kun began teaching at York in 2001, and was a dedicated and enthusiastic instructor in the Department of Humanities over these many years, most recently in Myth and Imagination in Greece and Rome. Her students described her “as one of the sweetest and caring professors I have had in my three years at York,” as “incredibly kind and passionate about the material,” and as “a really amazing and caring professor.” Some simply said, “love, love, love Professor Kun – she’s a sweet bubbly lady who knows her stuff and loves to teach.”
Kun did indeed love to teach and she cared deeply about her students and their success. As many of her colleagues remember, Kun also loved bright colours, baubles that sparkled and shone, loved to travel and to paint the world. Kun completed her Ph.D. in Philology at the University of Zagreb in 1991, and her research interests spanned Roman and Greek literature, culture and art, as well as the interpretative reflection of the Bible in the arts.
She was the author of several scholarly books, including Orbis Romanus, The Worlds of Ancient Greece and Rome, The Roots of Greek Culture and Mythology and The Poetics of Symbolism. Kun was also a literary and art critic, poet, essayist, dramatist and composer. Her exuberance, her kindness and her enthusiasm for life, literature and others will be deeply missed.