Alice Berliner Hadler, whose passion for cross-cultural understanding at the family and personal levels enriched the lives of family, friends, and students from around the world, died peacefully at home on May 29th at the age of 76, surrounded by loving family and friends.  Alice was a deeply loved wife, mother, grandmother, surrogate mother, and friend to many, who always had time to listen to and advocate for those around her, with the steadfast belief that nothing is impossible.

Alice was born on August 19, 1947, in Manhattan. She grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where she met her husband and lifetime partner Jim in high school, and was present when Martin Luther King gave his "I have a dream" speech. She graduated with a BA in German and French from Mount Holyoke College in 1969, spending her junior year at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She later earned an M. Ed from Columbia in 1996.

Alice's embrace of the world and international understanding was inspired by participating in the American Field Service high school intercultural program as a host sister to Christina Kuhn (Switzerland), then living with the Shiozaki family in Japan, and subsequently becoming a host mother to Line Lillevik (Norway), Juan Vergara (Chile), and Arina Kleist (Greenland). Her passion was further fueled by working with Jim on the Navajo Nation, in Samoa, and in China, capped by her 25 year career at Wesleyan University (1995-2020), and reinforced by travels to visit her ever-growing extended family all over the world.

At Wesleyan, Alice taught writing: "The English Essay," "Writing about Places, Africa," and "The Doctor Writer," among her cross-culturally focused courses.  She felt responsible for the academic and personal well-being first of students coming to Wesleyan on the Freeman Asian Scholars Program and eventually, all international students, earning the title Associate Director for International Student Affairs.  The extraordinary level of personal support she offered altered lives and built many enduring friendships.  After retiring from Wesleyan, she worked to support and guide high school students in the US who had graduated from the Kibera School for Girls in Nairobi, a core program of the NGO Shining Hope for Communities, started by two Wesleyan graduates whom Alice helped mentor.  Many students, faculty and family friends felt Alice embodied "the best of humanity" and that they are better, more selfless people because "Alice lives in all of us."

Alice already is deeply missed by her family, including husband Jim Hadler; birth children Peter, Max and Eliza and their families including 3 grandchildren, Oliver, Nick and Izzy; siblings Nancy and Robert Berliner and their families and sister-in-law Mickey Kavanagh and her family; AFS siblings and children and their families; hundreds of Wesleyan students, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on September 21st, at the Unitarian Universalist Society, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden, CT.  In lieu of flowers, gifts in Alice's memory can be made to Shining Hope for Communities ( https://www.shofco.org/ ) or to the Alice Hadler Summer Experience Grant at Wesleyan ( https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/47758/donations/new?a=8275609 ). Arrangements are with the Hawley Lincoln Memorial, New Haven.