Millicent McIntosh; Ex-President of Barnard College

Millicent McIntosh, 102, Barnard College president in the 1950s who became a national icon as one of the first married women to head one of the Seven Sisters colleges. McIntosh was appointed Barnard’s fourth dean in 1947 and was president from 1953 to 1962. She was a feminist role model for women in the 1940s and ‘50s who wanted to combine family and career. McIntosh was the mother of five children, including twins, and was headmistress of a private school before joining Barnard. She was such a trailblazer that Newsweek put her on its cover in 1951 as part of a story on whether women’s education “should turn out homemakers or Who’s Whoers--or both.” She became a campus legend, affectionately called Mrs. Mac by students and staff. At the Brearley School, a private girls school in Manhattan, she mixed a curriculum of Latin and English with more practical courses in such topics as sex education. At Barnard she created and taught a course in “modern living” that sought to help women think about important issues in their lives. She was a vigorous advocate of child care and told young women that motherhood did not need to be an all-consuming occupation; in fact, she told them that women make better mothers if they do not spend all their time caring for children. Born in Baltimore, McIntosh was educated at Bryn Mawr, Cambridge and Johns Hopkins, where she earned her doctorate in 14th century English mystery dramas. On Wednesday in Tyringham, Mass.