From the Detroit Free Press:
Thousands of Latin students around the country learned the language from the voice of someone they never met: former educator Edith Kovach.
Her enthusiasm and dedication in her Latin and Greek teachings endeared her in the hearts and minds of students and faculty alike.
A onetime chairwoman of the University of Detroit’s classical studies department and a longtime instructor in the Detroit Public Schools, Ms. Kovach died Wednesday of cardiac arrest in her Bloomfield Hills home. She was 88.
“Without a doubt, teaching was her passion and knowledge was the reward,” said her longtime friend, Alice McIntyre. “She had a marvelous ability for bringing all classic arts and languages together so that people developed a depth of understanding and a genuine appreciation.”
Ms. Kovach was a nationally recognized figure in the development of methods to teach Latin and Greek at both the high school and college levels, and conducted frequent summer workshops and seminars at college campuses around the country.
Fluent in Spanish and German, she was instrumental in the improvement of the drill tapes and tests she helped develop for Macmillan & Co. to accompany Latin textbooks. As a result, her voice became a familiar learning tool for students around the country.
Born in New York City, she graduated from Central High School in Detroit and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Latin and foreign language education, respectively, from Wayne State University. She received her PhD in classical studies and Latin from the University of Michigan.
Ms. Kovach began her career as a language and math teacher in the Detroit Public Schools. She taught for more than 20 years and chaired the foreign language department at Mumford High School.
After going to work at what was then the University of Detroit in 1965, she was responsible for many improvements within the department. She was awarded the school’s President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1984 — the first woman to be so honored.
Survivors include her brother, Eugene Kovach, and several nieces and nephews.
rogueclassicism 