Madeleine Pelner Cosman Dead at 68

Lawyer, health-care policy analyst and enthusiastic medievalist Madeleine Pelner Cosman died on March 2 in Escondido, California, from complications of scleroderma. Ms. Cosman's diverse interests led her to found the Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at City College of New York in 1968 (it closed upon her retirement in 1993) as well as Medical Equity, a brokerage of medical and surgical practices. She spoke about daily life in the Middle Ages at many venues, often using real creative flair to captivate her audiences. Ms. Cosman may be best known as the author of Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony. For more about this extraordinary woman, please visit the obituary at the New York Times.