Elaine Marieb

Elaine Nicpon Marieb, an 'accidental author' raised on a farm in Northampton, Massachusetts, overcame financial hardships to earn degrees from Westfield State University, Mount Holyoke College, and a PhD in zoology from UMass Amherst in 1969. She taught anatomy at colleges like Springfield College and Holyoke Community College before authoring the bestselling textbook 'Human Anatomy & Physiology' in 1989 and over a dozen other works used in more than 2,400 classrooms worldwide. A renowned philanthropist, she funded the Marieb College of Health & Human Services at FGCU and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at UMass, passing away in 2018 at age 82.