Renée Kahane was born in Kephallonia (maiden name, Toole) in 1907, and studied Romance Philology (under Ernst Gamillscheg) in Leipzig and Berlin, receiving her Ph.D. in 1931.
For information on her life and work, with some material on her husband, Henry Kahane, also a noted Hellenist and Romance language specialist, click here.
Here are two photos of Renée when young, and somewhat later in her life, of her with Henry (provided by her son, Charles Kahane):
Renée Kahane, when young
Renée and Henry Kahane in 1979
Brian Joseph comments: “Speaking personally here, I feel honored to have had the opportunity to meet both Renée and Henry. In 1998, I was at a conference at the University of Illinois and at the conference dinner I had the distinct pleasure of sitting with both Renée and Henry. They regaled me that evening with fascinating stories about their lives and their scholarship. Both impressed me as truly fine people. It is thus particularly important to me that Ohio State and now our Laboratory for Greek Dialectology are the repository for some of Renée Kahane’s materials on the dialect of Kephallonia. I thank her son Charles for donating these materials to us.”