In Memoriam: Lynda Lytle Holmstrom Pioneering researcher in rape counseling and trauma whose interests also extended to other compelling social issues Retired Professor of Sociology Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, a pioneering researcher in rape counseling and trauma whose interests also extended to other compelling social issues—such as the challenges faced by two-career families and controversies surrounding intensive care for newborns—died on February 6. She was 81. The Sociology Department’s first tenured female faculty member, Dr. Holmstrom—who served as department chair for six years—taught at Boston College for four decades. In 1972, Dr. Holmstrom, along with Connell School of Nursing faculty member Ann W. Burgess, founded a rape victim counseling program at Boston City Hospital—among the first to be based in a hospital—that, in addition to offering therapeutic services, provided the two with insights into the plight of women who endured sexual violence. They spoke with victims at the hospital, did follow-up work, and took some cases to court; they also trained the BCH nurses to continue the counseling, remaining as supervisory consultants for the program.