Gunnil Sjöberg, former lecturer in the Germanic languages and literatures department in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, died in early June at a nursing home in Uppsala, Sweden. She was 88.

Mrs. Sjöberg was a native of Sweden. She joined the faculty at Penn in 1967. She represented the Scandinavian section of the department of Germanic languages and literatures for many years, teaching courses on Swedish language, literature and film. She was promoted to senior lecturer in 1984 and was honored in 1995 by Richard R. Beeman, associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Horst S. Daemmrich, department chair, for her superior teaching. Mrs. Sjöberg was instrumental in establishing the Amandus Johnson Prize at Penn, which is still being bestowed to the most deserving student for travel to study in Sweden. She also served on the University Council from 1985 to 1986.

Mrs. Sjöberg’s husband, Ake Sjöberg, was Emeritus Clark Research Professor of Assyriology in the department of Near Eastern languages and civilizations and emeritus curator of the Babylonian section of the Penn Museum (Almanac August 26, 2014). They both retired from Penn in 1996 and returned to Sweden, where they remained for the remainder of both their lives.

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