Edith M. Hoffman, a longtime Middlefield resident, died peacefully in her sleep on Aug. 11 after a short illness. She was 89 and living at Ashlar Village in Wallingford at the time of her illness.Edith was born Edith May Warren on May 23, 1928 in Gilmore City, Ia. to Charles Clifford and Hazel Warren, the middle of three children. She grew up on the family’s small farm where they produced nearly all their own food. After graduating from Gilmore City High School in 1946, she enrolled at the University of Iowa where she earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in art history. In the early 1950s, she won a Fulbright scholarship to Belgium where she studied 15th century Flemish art. She became an acknowledged authority on the artist Simon Marmion and published a number of scholarly articles about his work.While doing research at a London museum, Edith met her husband Ernest G. Hoffman. They married in 1955 and settled in London where Edith earned her PhD from the University of London. In 1959, they came to the United States. She taught art history at the University of Connecticut, the University of Nebraska and Central Connecticut State University, where she became full, tenured professor.Edith and her family moved to Middlefield in 1968 where they lived until the mid-2000s. She served a number of terms on the District 13 school board. In addition to art and her family, Edith loved tennis — she played into her mid-80s — the theater, foreign films, chess, playing the piano, running road races, wine, cognac, Manhattan cocktails, a good hamburger and anything French. Edith is survived by her husband of nearly 62 years, Ernest G. Hoffman of Wallingford, her son Christopher C. Hoffman of North Haven, her granddaughter Julia Hoffman of North Haven, her sister June Harris of Huxley, Ia., her daughter in law Karen E. Olson of North Haven and six nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brother Eldon Warren and her nephew Elliot Warren, both of Gilmore City, Ia.

Per Edith’s wishes, there will be no service. Donations in her memory may be made to Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. . The North Haven Funeral Home, 36 Washington Avenue has been entrusted with the arrangements