Remembering Marc Steinberg, by Marguerite Harrison
For many years Marc was my neighbor in Wright Hall, at Smith College. Wright is one of the few buildings on campus in which faculty from all different departments come together. I teach Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and Marc taught Sociology, and it was a great pleasure to learn from one another. We used to meet out in the hallway near the copy machine and talk about life as much as work. Well, for Marc life was work—the two were inextricable.
We talked a lot about caring for our elderly parents, and we talked about projects we planned to do in summer. It was in one of our early conversations that I first glimpsed Marc’s deep compassion, humanity, and wisdom. A dear friend of mine was dying—of pancreatic cancer, in fact—and I was debating whether or not to go see her in New York City. It was the middle of the semester and I was overwhelmed with work, and while I wanted to see her, I felt guilty not attending to my classes.
“Go.” Marc said this with such conviction and urgency that I couldn’t ignore his advice. “Go now,” he said, “or you might regret it for the rest of your life. Go for her sake and go for your own.”
I did go, and have been grateful to Marc for his understanding and kindness ever since—especially for knowing when to be firm, and, for someone who worked as vigorously and persistently as he did, to value friendship over productivity. I will never forget Marc’s advice, nor his good humor and friendship and humanity. I will miss him greatly.
— Marguerite Itamar Harrison, Associate Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Smith College