Dr. Judith A. Rosenthal, a feminist literary scholar and Fresno State professor emerita of English, passed away from pancreatic cancer on Dec. 25, 2023. She was 78.

A career educator who shared writing and culture with others throughout her life, Dr. Rosenthal taught literature courses at the university from 1971 to 2007. She specialized in Medieval and Renaissance literatures, with deep interests in women writers and the works of William Shakespeare.

In retirement, she became a fixture among the expatriate community in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, in particular as an organizer with the city’s bilingual Shakespeare readers and as English book director at the city’s Biblioteca Pública.

Dr. Lisa Weston, professor of English and former department chair, said Rosenthal came to Fresno State at a time of political and social turmoil, as the number of students of color and women in the classroom began to expand. It was also a time when the number of women on the university’s faculty started to slowly but surely grow.

“Judy came as part of a loose cohort, particularly, of feminist artists and scholars,” Weston said. “Feminist theory and the heritage of women authors long formed the core of her scholarship.”

Dr. Laurel Hendrix, professor emerita of English, called Rosenthal “a pioneer in the second-wave feminist movement, working within and outside the English Department in order to carry out the many projects of second-wave feminism,” which included greater access for women in the academy, the application of feminist perspectives to literary and cultural criticism, and the revision of the canon to include rediscovered early women writers.

Born in Syracuse, New York in 1945, Rosenthal skipped a grade in high school and left home at age 16 to go to college. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Harpur College, now known as SUNY Binghamton, and she went on to earn a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Renaissance literature from the University of Pittsburgh.

Rosenthal is survived by her husband, George Hedgpeth; and brother, Kevin Nichols. Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Central Time on February 12, 2024, at the Hotel Posada de la Aldea, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. A livestream will be available. In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to Mujeres en Cambio, a nonprofit dedicated to helping educate girls in the rural areas of Guanajuato.

Read an extended remembrance on the College of Arts and Humanities blog.