Esther Radinger, who for 36 years served as assistant director of the U’s Honors Program, died of natural causes on July 8 at the age of 77.
“When students remember the honors program, they remember Esther Radinger,” said Rick Rieke, a U communication professor.
Radinger was born in Basel, Switzerland on April 15, 1932, and was raised in Austria and Germany through World War II. Her father, a talented violinist, was drafted to the war and held as a POW, leaving Esther and her two brothers under the sole care of their mother. He was eventually released, and in 1951, their family emigrated to the Utah, where he worked under Maurice Abravanel at the Utah Symphony.
Typewriting skills acquired at the LDS Business College enabled Radinger to qualify for a job as a secretary at the U’s language department in 1955. In 1968, she attained her position with the honors program.
During her tenure, she used her unparalleled mentoring abilities to guide thousands of honors students and found ways raise money to support their education. One day while at her desk, the language department chair at that time asked Radinger to fill in to teach his German class. She made such a splendid impression, that the following day the students told him, they didn’t want him — they want Radinger.
From then on, in addition to her administrative position, she taught German for 11 years.
One of the people she advised is Honors College Dean Martha Bradley, who said of Radinger, “I felt that she was setting me up for success.” She said Radinger was particularly interested in mentoring young women, and recalls Radinger’s support for her to become the first woman Honors College dean after a long line of men.
Radinger consulted Mark Fuller, whose undergraduate thesis detailed a method to create fountains that shoot straight up. She also advised Karl Rove, of whom she confided to her friend that, “he was a most intelligent man, but hard to get along with.”
That friend was her life partner and proprietor of the long-time downtown shoe shop The Oxford Place, “Mr. Downtown” Richard Wirick.
“She said it just as it was,” Wirick said. “She was not only my companion for over 30 years, but also my best friend. And that means a lot to me.”
Esther had a love for beautiful things, and surrounded herself by the best of music, fabrics and fragrances. She liked to share the exquisiteness of all these luxuries with those around her. For instance, if it was a faculty member’s birthday, Esther would give them pieces of jewelry and say, “I picked this out just for you,” said Mary Watkins, the coordinator of the honors program.
Radinger retired from her position in 2004, going on to play a major role in the Opera Guild, The Symphony Guild and the Metropolitan Opera Company Tryouts, all of which are run by her sister-in-law, Carol Radinger.
A grand celebration of Esther Radinger’s life was held Tuesday evening to celebrate the indelible imprint she left on the honors program.
Family, faculty, administrators and alumni gathered together to recall “nothing but the fondest of memories,” said Richard Cummings, a former director of the honors program.