LaMar, Virginia A., 1922-1968

Virginia Ann LaMar was born on November 29, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio to Bruce and Mary LaMar. By 1940, the LaMar family had moved to Hempstead, New York. From 1941-1946, Virginia LaMar worked as a secretary for the British Admiralty Delegation in Washington, D.C. and received the King's Medal in 1945 for her service. In May of 1946, she became a secretary at the Folger Shakespeare Library and was appointed as an Executive Secretary to Director Louis B. Wright around 1948. On July 24, 1948, she married William F. Freund but they divorced sometime after August 1954 and she returned to using her maiden name. In addition to her secretarial work at the Folger, LaMar served as the Assistant Editor of the General Readers Shakespeare editions, the precursor to the Folger Shakespeare Editions. She also authored two of the Folger Booklets on Tudor and Stuart Civilization.

In late 1967, LaMar contracted influenza and then pneumonia. She slipped into a coma on Jan. 3, 1968 and passed away on January 8, 1968. She was survived by three brothers: Robert LaMar of Manassas, Virginia; Thomas LaMar of Washington, D.C.; and William LaMar of Buffalo, New York. Following her death, a friend set up the Virginia LaMar prize at the Folger in her honor.