Two popular and respected Dartmouth professors who were mysteriously murdered near the Ivy League campus in January were alumni of Stanford graduate programs.
Half Zantop and his wife, Susanne Zantop, were found dead January 27 in their home in the tiny town of Etna, N.H., three miles from Hanover. Susanne Zantop, 55, was chair of the German studies program at Dartmouth and also taught in the women's studies and comparative literature programs. Half Zantop, 62, was a professor of earth sciences. They met as graduate students on the Farm, where Half received his PhD in geology in 1969 and Susanne earned a master's in political science in 1968.
Dartmouth President James Wright praised their scholarship and their nurturing teaching styles. "Susanne was a prolific scholar," Wright said, and a beloved teacher who had taken many students on college programs to Europe. Half was regarded as "an exceptional teacher and mentor" during his 25 years at Dartmouth, he said. "Their deaths are an enormous loss to our community."
