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Melinda Rose Silva ’98

Melinda Rose Silva ’98, January 6, 2005, in Brooklyn, New York, from a sudden illness. Melinda graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in history from Reed. A year’s study in Florence, Italy, influenced her thesis subject on the relationship between patron and artist in the Renaissance, and she developed an intense passion for art. Following graduation Melinda took an internship at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., and then a position in marketing and communications at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 2001 she moved to London, England, and studied art history and photography, receiving a master’s degrees in 2003 from University College London and University of Westminster, respectively. She was also a volunteer guide at the Highgate Cemetery. Melinda relocated to New York, where she pursued a career in freelance writing and photography, and was associate publisher for index magazine. Travels in childhood produced a great network of friends and a variety of experiences with culture that she relished and benefited from in her young adulthood. Survivors include her mother, stepfather, three brothers, a stepsister and two stepbrothers. Her father predeceased her. Melinda’s friends are organizing a bookplate memorial for her at Reed, and hope to create a scholarship fund to assist a future Reed student’s study abroad experience in Florence.

Appeared in Reed magazine: May 2005

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