Deborah Strom Gibbons, a writer and one of the earliest women graduate students at Princeton, died May 1, 2014, of complications from a stroke. She was 66.
Gibbons graduated from the University of Rochester in 1969 with a major in art history. After entering graduate school in Syracuse, she transferred to Princeton and earned an MFA degree in 1975 and a Ph.D. in 1979 in art history.
She was the widow of Felton L. Gibbons, a professor of art at Princeton who died in 1990. An avid bird-watcher, she co-authored with her husband Neighbors to the Birds: A History of Birdwatching in America. In 1989, she published Birdwatching with American Women: A Selection of Nature Writing.
Active in the APGA, Gibbons was a board member from 1998 to 2001. She wrote an article for PAW on her Princeton graduate student years, which was published in the April 7, 1999, issue. She is survived by her mother, Beatrice; a brother; and a sister.
Juliet Wehr Jones ’93, a close friend and co-executor of her estate, wrote that Gibbons “had a wicked sense of humor, strong opinions, and a generous nature. She supported the professional advancement for women, serving as a mentor and advisor to many professional women over the years.”
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.