Maxine Platzer Lynn passed away at her home in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 23, 2024.
. . . . . . . .
From enlightening everyday conversation to impactful passion projects, Maxine Platzer Lynn pursued the ideals she shared with so many across the generations of the UVA community. She saw what was good, and what could be better, and engaged in making it so.
In 1947, Max was a 19-year-old newlywed who had moved to Charlottesville and wanted to complete her education at UVA. She met some, but not all, of the conditions set when UVA leadership had approved “the proposal to admit white women to the Graduate and Professional Schools of the University” and further specified that “beginning with the session opening in September 1920, mature and properly qualified women be admitted.” To begin studying at UVA at her age and with the coursework she had completed, Max needed to petition the board for a waiver and appear to make her request in person.
Upon convincing the board, Max became a 2nd year Education student - and proceeded with the same determination to make her case for enrolling in many courses across the College of Arts and Sciences throughout her three years as a UVA student as well. She told us in 2014 that “as a female student who would receive a B.S. in Education, I was an anomaly,” having accumulated so many electives in the College by the time she graduated in 1951.
Max credited her time in Charlottesville as giving her an “adventurous spirit,” and her education at UVA as the source of “a great sense of community and of the importance of giving back.”
Her generosity in giving back ultimately led her to make the $3 million endowment donation for which our center was renamed the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center in 2014. Max’s donation was an embodiment of her own commitment to education and her deep belief in its power to transform women’s lives. It was also an acknowledgment that advancing gender equity requires more than words—it requires resources.
“I hope that the Women’s Center will continue to do the mentoring and outreach at which they’ve been so successful,” Lynn said. “The fine people on Grounds right now are the best judge of how best to make themselves available to all students, no matter their gender, in the furtherance of their aspirations as they study at the University and move out into the world.” This support has allowed the Women’s Center to act boldly in tackling the systemic challenges women face and provided us with the stability to grow, innovate, and expand our reach. The “flexibility and security” Max sought to provide us allows the Women’s Center to respond to emerging needs and create long-term, impactful programs.
Former Women’s Center Director Abby Palko recalled, “Each time that I visited Max, she was eager to hear about the students: what were they doing? What challenges were they facing? What were their aspirations, and what did they need to achieve them?” Abby said that from her first meeting with Max, she “could immediately see the grit, determination, and joy that drove her -- all the attributes that made her a phenomenal role model for our students.”
It is with tremendous affection and pride that the Women's Center will continue to carry Max's legacy forward at UVA and beyond through the insights and ethic of care students gain here. Current Women's Center Director Chanel Craft Tanner remembers Max's warm welcome and firm expression of commitment to this place, conveyed to her as soon as she began here earlier this year. “Her gift was a message of hope for every woman who enters the Women’s Center telling them that someone believed in their potential enough to invest in their future,” Chanel reflected. "As long as this center stands and we remain committed to our purpose, Maxine Platzer Lynn’s name, spirit, and belief in our work will live on."
Recent gifts in Max's memory affirm how her legacy here inspires as well as sustains us. Members of the UVA community seeking to remember Max in the spirit in which she lived can make donations in memory of her to the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women's Center.