Alison Isenberg, professor of history and co-founder of the Princeton-Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism and the Humanities, died on Oct. 23, 2025. She was 63.
Alison Isenberg, professor of history and co-founder of the Princeton-Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism and the Humanities, died on Oct. 23, 2025. She was 63.
While there is so much to say about Alison as a historian and an academic I will remember her as someone with a huge heart, a kind smile, and a great sense of humor. We were friends in middle and high school. She was fun and silly and very, very smart. Alison had a way to make people feel appreciated. I will miss her.
Professor Isenberg is one of the reasons I was able to graduate from Princeton. She was my Senior thesis advisor and helped me through a difficult time. I am incredibly grateful for her warmth and compassion. She will be missed.
My condolences to the Wailoo family for your huge loss.
I know how deeply she cared for her family.
I have so much gratitude for Alison’s encouragement, enthusiasm and mentoring during my time with her in Urban Studies.
Rest in peace ❤️
I was one of the many people whom Prof. I touched through her teaching and mentoring. Not only did she help me fall in love with history and push me to become a better scholar and thinker, but she was a constant source of personal support and encouragement. I first met her in the fall of 2022. I had heard that she was a wonderful and attentive advisor, and so I turned up during her office hours hoping she would agree to work with me on my junior paper. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Through the years—well after that project was complete—Prof. I offered incisive feedback on my work, went out of her way to aid my scholarly and professional development, and always dropped everything, no questions asked, whenever I came to her with some struggle or another. I, like everyone who benefitted from her presence in their lives, knew her to be both intellectually brilliant and extraordinarily humane. I will miss her deeply. My sincere condolences.
Alison could touch a corner of the world and make it a better place – with her authentic personal warmth and awesome professional accomplishments. Jim and I send our wishes for peace and healing to Myla, Sahara and Keith.
She was an amazing teacher with clear passion for what she did. I truly enjoyed her classes, and all of us felt how much she cared. She was a wonderful professor and mentor.
As an undergrad, Alison was the first professor who made me feel truly seen and heard at Princeton. She had a genuine interest in my ideas and helped me believe in them too. Her door was always open whether I needed to talk, ask questions, or find direction when I felt stuck. I always left our conversations with a clearer mind and a renewed sense that I could take on what was hard. Her unflagging spirit and passion for her work were also deeply inspiring as a student. She showed what academia could be at its best — imaginative, inclusive, and alive with curiosity. In one of her intro Urban Studies classes, I remember studying “Main Street” through old postcards, a project that made me fall in love with Urban Studies