Sally MacEwen, Agnes Scott Prof and Friends School Founder, Dies at 64

A memorial service for Sally Anne MacEwen, a classics professor at , will be held at 1 p.m. May 5 at the Friends School of Atlanta, 862 Columbia Drive, Decatur.

Ms. MacEwen, 64, died March 15 after a long battle with cancer. She was 64.

Ms. MacEwen's family has created a website that tells the story of Ms. MacEwen's life.

A long and detailed obituary on the website says  Ms. MacEwen was born in Abington, Pa., and spent her childhood in Riverton, N.J.

She earned a degree in Classical Languages and Literature from Mount Holyoke College and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.

She taught at the University of Utah and joined the faculty at Agnes Scott in the early 1980s. She authored a book titled “Superheroes and Greek Tragedy: Comparing Cultural Icons.” 

She was a lifelong Quaker and helped found the Friends School of Atlanta.

Her life partner was Aaron Ruscetta, with whom she had a daughter, Elaine Isabelle, in 1986. The couple legally married on March 11 -- four days before her death -- in a Quaker ceremony officiated by their daughter.

She is survived by her husband and daughter; siblings Mary Shannon and Jay McVaugh; and her mother, Isabelle McVaugh.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Friends School of Atlanta under care of the “Legacy of Light” founders fund.