Cheryl Anne Conover (Hanks) '63

Obituary from The Washington Post, December 10, 2007

Cheryl Conover Hanks, 62, a real estate agent in Washington and a former Northeastern University professor, died of a brain hemorrhage Dec. 3 at Arab Medical Center in Amman , Jordan , where she was attending a wedding.

Dr. Hanks had worked for W.C. & A.N. Miller in Washington since 2004. She previously worked at Pardoe Real Estate in Georgetown . She moved to Washington in 1993 and took up selling homes in 1995.

A resident of Washington 's Tenleytown neighborhood, she organized a monthly neighborhood get-together at Guapo's Mexican restaurant and an annual Christmas caroling group.

"She was a really happy person, the kind of person you wanted to be around if you needed to get out of a funk," said a friend, Patricia Kennedy.

Dr. Hanks previously taught child development, statistics and social psychology as well as negotiation at Boston 's Northeastern University from 1971 until 1981.

She resigned from her tenured position to raise her children and work part time for nonprofit and political organizations while writing and editing newsletters and screenplays.

She was born in Minneapolis and grew up the daughter of a diplomat, living in Egypt , Iran , Ethiopia , France and Jordan .

She graduated from Boston University and received a doctoral degree in psychology from there in 1971.

She spoke French, Arabic and Farsi, and did volunteer work for several foundations that sought peace in the Middle East .

Her husband of 22 years, Toby Hanks, died in 1993. Her second marriage, to Jon Williams, ended in divorce.