Catherine “Kay” Stratton, wife of MIT’s 11th president, dies at 100
Catherine N. “Kay” Stratton — the wife of former MIT President Julius A. Stratton, and for decades a great friend of the arts at MIT — died Sept. 10 at her beloved farm in South Newfane, Vt. She was 100 years old. Born in Los Angeles, Stratton was brought up in Charlottesville, Va., and attended the University of Virginia’s Mary Washington College before enrolling in Wellesley College after her marriage in 1935. Long after serving, from 1959 to 1966, as the wife of MIT’s 11th president, Stratton made extensive contributions to the Institute, enriching the lives of students and faculty through her dedication to the arts and her commitment to a more vibrant campus. “Kay never stopped imagining ways that MIT might become a better place,” says Lawrence S. Bacow, president emeritus of Tufts University, who served as MIT’s chancellor from 1998 to 2001. “I first met her shortly after I became chancellor,...