Alexander Lehrman, Oct. 10, 2011

2:09 p.m., Nov. 18, 2011--Dr. Alexander Lehrman, 59, of Newark, Del., died at home on Oct. 10. 

A scholar of Russian language, literature and culture, Dr. Lehrman was an associate professor of foreign languages and literatures at the University of Delaware. He had taught at UD since 1989.

A philologist, etymologist and Yale-trained Indo-Europeanist, he knew more than 40 languages and was an expert on words and their histories, as well as on languages and cultures and their interrelations. He published three scholarly books and many articles on a vast array of subjects, along with three book-length translations, a novel, and poetry.

Music was his second love. A native of Moscow, he was trained as a classical cellist at the Gnesin School of Music. He was a vocalist, bass-guitarist and songwriter in the underground rock and roll movement in the USSR in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He immigrated to the West in 1975, settling in the U.S. in 1976. After the fall of the USSR, he recorded and released in Russia two CDs of his music.

An avid student of the Bible, he joined the Christian Science church in 2002 after experiencing several healings of incurable chronic ailments through reading Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. He served actively in the Newark, Del., church, and also worked to bring to Russia the spiritual truths of this beautiful religion.

He is survived by his wife, Susan Amert, his mother, Zinaida, of Newark, Del.; his son Ilya and his wife Noelle of Glenmoore, Pa.; his son Nicholas; his grandson Tristan; two sets of cousins and their children in Russia and in Germany, as well as a large extended family in South Dakota. 

Memorial contributions may be made to the First Church of Christ, Scientist, 48 West Park Place, Newark, DE 19711; the Spiritual Resource Foundation, P.O. Box 7278, Olympia, WA 98507, or the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, P.O. Box 1870, Wilmington, DE 19899.

Online condolences may be left at the Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Homes website.