Tamar March, resident of Lincoln, MA, entered eternal rest on May 17, 2026 at the age of 88.

Born in what was then Czechoslovakia, she survived the Holocaust with her parents by dint of their courage. After fleeing postwar communism, the family fled to Belgium and finally to the U.S. Though initially speaking only French and German, she was educated in New York City public schools before getting her B.A. at Brooklyn College. She also won a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship and ended up getting her MA at Radcliffe College and her PhD in French literature at Harvard. In these years she also married Frederick March and raised two children, Nadine and Michael. They later divorced, and she married Sherwin Cooper.

Through her career Tamar had faculty positions at Saint Paul’s College, New EnglandConservatory of Music, and Clark University. She chaired the Humanities Division at New England Conservatory, was Associate Dean of COPACE at Clark, Provost at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Vice-President at New England College, and Chief Academic Officer, and finally Dean of Educational Programs at Radcliffe College, as well as Founder and Director of Radcliffe’s Intellectual Renewal for Leaders.

Among the many academic honors she received was the Tamar March Faculty Development Fund of the Trustees of the National Education Council, serving as Fellow of the American Council on Education, President of the Phi Beta Kappa Chapter at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Chair of the National Council of Academic Deans, and a participant at the Aspen Seminars and the Troutbeck Seminars for Academic Leadership. She was Editor of The Journal of Liberal and General Studies and in addition, she founded Princeton-based seminars of faculty development and participated in a Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty team for academic leadership issues which morphed into the Arden Seminars, dedicated to the intellectual and moral renewal of individuals in leadership positions, which she directed.

Tamar served on academic boards of trustees for Harvard Hillel, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and Saint Mary’s College. She was a faculty development consultant on various campuses and a sought-after speaker. She was also on the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Integral Studies. A creative force in innovative leadership, Tamar was also honored with various awards during her lifetime including a Lifetime Achievement Award from her alma mater, Brooklyn College. Lastly she conducted seminar of literature for The Commons in Lincoln. 

With a range of interests from music to travel (especially to Mendocino and Carmel), she was a constant, keen, and devoted lover of literature. 

Tamar March had style, humor, and a warm and animated interest in other people. She loved a good story or anecdote. She was also a compassionate, understanding friend and ally. Tamar had a focus and intensity that was impossible to resist and demanded a commensurate engagement, which everyone enjoyed.

She is survived by her younger sister, two children, two step-children, and four grandchildren.

Private burial services were held at Lincoln Cemetery in Lincoln, MA.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in her honor to the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.