Lynne Schloesser, college administrator

Lynne Davis Mifflin Schloesser, 83, a former administrator at Swarthmore College, died of multiple myeloma Saturday, March 12, at home in Nyack, N.Y.

Mrs. Schloesser graduated from Swarthmore, which was where she met Edward Biddle Mifflin; they married in 1949. While caring for their five young children, she earned a master's degree in philosophy from Swarthmore in 1964.

In 1968, Mrs. Schloesser joined the Swarthmore staff as director of financial aid. From 1975 to 1978, she was associate dean of admissions and adviser to foreign students.

In 1970, when their youngest child was 8, she and her husband divorced.

It was unusual for a woman raising five children alone to have an academic administration position, her daughter Lawrie Mifflin said. But Mrs. Schloesser was dedicated to Swarthmore's liberal-arts mission and enjoyed being part of the process that discovered talented students for the college.

Mrs. Schloesser, who had become a Quaker while in college, taught Sunday school at Swarthmore Friends Meeting. She chose to teach teenagers, her daughter said, because she relished their probing questions.

In 1975, she married V. Valle Schloesser, an aeronautics engineer. From 1978 to 1981, the couple lived in San Diego. They then lived in France for three years before moving to Kennett Square in 1991. They returned to Swarthmore in 1998.

Her second husband died in 2001. The next year, she moved to Nyack to be close to daughter Margot Mifflin and her family.

Mrs. Schloesser and her second husband traveled widely, making trips to the ice floes of Antarctica, the deserts of Morocco, and the pyramids in Egypt. She traveled with her children to India, Nepal, Japan, and most of the countries of Europe. She took Caribbean cruises with her sons and grandchildren.

At 80, she traveled on her own, on an Elderhostel tour, down the Mekong River through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

In addition to daughters Lawrie and Margot, Mrs. Schloesser is survived by her sons, Fred and Bill; another daughter, Elizabeth; a stepson, V. Valle Schloesser; a stepdaughter, Donna Kochis; and 13 grandchildren.

A Quaker memorial service was held in Nyack on Sunday, March 27.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia 19102.