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It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our much beloved colleague, editor-without-peer, and dear friend, Laurie Haight Keenan. From 1996 to 2011, Laurie lit up the Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers office with her infectious laugh, her brilliance, her fabulous sense of humor, her boundless kindness, her consummate editorial skill, her sense of the practical, and her relentless pursuit of excellence. Laurie graciously trained editors and developed policies and procedures for B-C that remain in place today. She maintained a special relationship with fellow PhD, founder and longtime president Lou Bolchazy. Their annual collaboration on the B-C catalog was always an epic undertaking! Former B-C president and current chair of the board Marie Bolchazy notes, “I hired Laurie to be an editor for Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. Her work was exemplary. But she was more than an employee and colleague. She was a wonderful friend and I grieve losing her. Rest in peace, dear Laurie.”

Working closely with authors and fellow editors, Laurie shepherded dozens of titles from manuscript to print. The authors with whom she worked always spoke highly of her and many of them maintained lifelong relationships with her. G. B. Cobbold, in the acknowledgements for his acclaimed translation of Vergil’s Aeneid—Hero • War • Humanity, wrote “But above all I would like to thank Laurie Haight Keenan, who with inexhaustible patience and good humor guided the whole work ab ovo usque ad malum.” Keenan and Cobbold would go on to collaborate on three additional popular translations of significant Latin texts. Author Judith Peller Hallett shared, “Very sad news about the loss of a wonderful colleague. We first worked together on the Seuss books—and Sheila Dickison and I greatly valued her wisdom, erudition, humor, and patience when we toiled together on our Roman Women Reader.”

Although she had retired from her full-time position and commuting to the B-C office in Mundelein in 2011, Laurie continued to work on the BC Latin Readers, much-beloved by college instructors and their students. She and series editor Ronnie Ancona proved to be quite the editorial team. Of this, Ronnie has written, “We worked together for many years on various projects at Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, she as my editor, and then while we edited together the BC Latin Readers. I learned so much from her. Even after our work relationship ended, we exchanged wonderful emails and shared much about our lives.”

We grieve our loss of a dear friend and colleague. We grieve with Laurie’s husband and best friend, Jim Keenan. We take comfort that Laurie is no longer in pain and trust that she has crossed the rainbow bridge to join her much loved and dearly departed Scottie rescue dogs.

See Laurie's obituary and a lovely tribute (scroll down) from her fellow Scottie devotees.