Emma Weigley

Emma Seifrit Weigley (née Seifrit; January 27, 1933 – April 18, 2020) was an American professor of nutrition. Her husband was military historian Russell Weigley.

Emma Weigley
Seifrit, from her 1950 high school yearbook
Born	Emma Seifrit (1933-01-27)January 27, 1933[1] Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	April 18, 2020(2020-04-18) (aged 87) South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Professor of nutrition
Spouse	Russell Weigley

Early life

Emma Seifrit was born in Reading, Pennsylvania.^[2] She graduated from Albright College in 1954.^[3] She completed doctoral studies in nutrition at New York University in 1971, with a thesis titled Sarah Tyson Rorer (1849-1937), a Biographical Study.^[4]

Career

Emma Seifrit was a clinical instructor in nutrition at Reading Hospital after college, and won an essay award from the American Dietetic Association in 1960.^[5] She taught home economics at Albright College^[6] and nutrition at Drexel University; she was also an adjunct professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania.^[7]

Publications by Weigley included "The High Fat Diet" (1963),^[8] "The Philadelphia Chef: Mastering the Art of Philadelphia Cookery" (1972),^[9] "'It might have been euthenics': The Lake Placid Conferences and the Home Economics Movement" (1974),^[10] "The Professionalization of Home Economics" (1976),^[11] Sarah Tyson Rorer: The Nation's Instructress in Dietetics and Cookery (1977),^[12] a biography based on her dissertation,^[2][13] "Infant Feeding Practices: A Century of Transitions" (1988),^[14] and Robinson's Basic Nutrition and Diet Therapy (1997), a textbook.^[15] She also co-edited Essays on History of Nutrition and Dietetics (1967) with E. Neige Todhunter, a collection of essays published on the fiftieth anniversary of the American Dietetic Association.^[16] The collection included her own essay, "Food in the days of the Declaration of Independence".^[17] Her collection of Sarah Tyson Rorer papers is housed at the American Philosophical Society library.^[18] She also wrote the article on Rorer for the American National Biography.^[19]

Personal life and death

Emma Seifrit married Russell Weigley in 1963. They had two children, Jared and Catherine. Her husband died in 2004.^[20] She died from COVID-19 in South Philadelphia on April 18, 2020, at age 87.^[2] Weigley was one of the thousand names included in The New York Times cover story on May 24, 2020, "U.S. Deaths Near 100,000, An Incalculable Loss".^[21]