Helene McCarren passed away on 15 June 2024, at Hillcrest Hospital, San Diego, California.
Helene was born to Greek parents, Athanasios and Marianna Psalti, in Cairo, Egypt, on 20 August 1942. After studying in British and French elementary schools in Cairo, she went to a British boarding school in England. She then embarked on her professional career in London, Athens, and New York (in the United Nations Secretariat).
She was especially close to her American husband Vincent, a lexicographer and papyrologist. They spent 52 happy years together, until his passing in June 2022.
It was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that Helene and Vincent spent most of their working life. Helene thrived as the Assistant Director of the Institute of Public Policy Studies, IPPS (now the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy), which she joined in 1973 and from which she stepped down in 1997.
One of Helene’s passions was animals. In IPPS, she was known for feeding the squirrels from her office window. In addition to her long hours at work at IPPS, she took courses at the University, with a special interest in political science and in animal behavior. She completed her university studies with her usual excellence and was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa in 1980.
Helene and Vincent spent their retirement years in La Jolla, California. Helene was especially close to her older sister Ariadne, who passed away in 2021, and to her family, and she was a hit also with her great-nephews and great-niece.
Helene’s life was rich in human experiences and friendships. One reason why she so enjoyed her work as Assistant Director of IPPS, responsible for administration, was that it was all about helping people. She did this discreetly, effectively, and with much humor, and she was appreciated by both professors and students.
Her niece Marina Vraila and her nephew Ioannis Vrailas, who is also her godson, and his wife Christiane and her two great-nephews Leonidas and Alexandros, as well as her great-niece Theodora, with all of whom she was very close, organized a global celebration of Helene McCarren’s life on 7 July 2024. This linked across the internet friends and family from the U.S., Athens, Brussels, and Tokyo. This epitomizes well Helene’s human as well as cosmopolitan reach across generations and continents.
Helene is survived by nephews, nieces, godchildren, great-nephews, and great-nieces, and is greatly missed by all who knew her well.
