Miriam (Mimi) Berlin died of pneumonia at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center on Thursday, Jan. 1. She was 88.

Born to the late Celia and Abraham Haskell on August 29, 1926, in Brookline, she married the late Gerald A. Berlin of Hampton, Va., in 1952. They resided together in Cambridge until his death in 2012, spending summers on Martha’s Vineyard from 1958 until 1976. Mimi attended Brookline High School, received a bachelor’s degree from Smith College, and received an A.M. from the Soviet Union Program and a Ph.D. in Russian history from Harvard University, where she was the first female in her department to receive this degree. She was a full-time lecturer in history at Wellesley College for 18 years, and later taught at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (formerly the Russian Research Center at Harvard), the Harvard Extension School, Semester-at-Sea, Facing History and Ourselves, and as a speaker on junkets offered worldwide by Swann Cruise Ships and others.

A woman driven by her passionate intellectual curiosity, she played a major role in facilitating the publication of the novel Dr. Zhivago after arranging a clandestine meeting with Boris Pasternak at the behest of Isaiah Berlin (no relation). Her last words, as she submitted to sedation in the emergency room, were to request a copy of Wednesday’s New York Times.

Mimi was revered as a teacher by generations of students at Wellesley and later at Harvard. Throughout her life, she remained a valued mentor as well as an active participant in the academic community in Cambridge. Mimi was also passionate about the outdoors, cooking (she was certified as a Cordon Bleu shortly after marrying Gerry), and conversation. She was deeply committed to her family, and maintained a fiercely loyal network of friendships across the globe over many decades.

She is survived by her sister, Judith Haskell of New York city; her three sons Jeremy A. Berlin of West Tisbury, Joshua D. Berlin of Arlington, Matthew A. Berlin and daughter in law Simone R. Liebman of Cambridge, and six grandchildren.

A memorial service hosted by the family and the Davis Center will take place on Saturday, Feb. 28, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Center for Government and International Studies South Building (CGIS South), Tsai Auditorium/S010, located at 1730 Cambridge Street in Cambridge. All are welcome to attend.