Nikki Langer, professor, accomplished musician, devoted Bubba, voracious reader, early feminist and champion of everything Vineyard, died peacefully on Dec. 21 at her home in Chilmark. She was 95.

Nikki was a first generation American, born in 1922. Her parents, Eva and Harry Poltorack were born in Kishinev, Moldova. They immigrated to the United States following the pogroms, anti-Jewish riots that took place in Kishinev in 1905.

Escaping the pogroms and settling in a small apartment in the Bronx, her parents brought little with them. Her father was a furrier and both parents spoke only Yiddish. Neither had much formal education and funds were scarce. But music was paramount in the their household, and money was put aside to buy a piano and pay for piano lessons for their young daughter.

She told many stories about her childhood. As a youngster, she was ashamed to invite friends over to her home, because Yiddish was the only language spoken, and to her — as a child of immigrants, that represented a backward life — something to leave behind. Nevertheless, she persisted and in persisting, she excelled — at academics, at music, at learning. At 17, she applied to Hunter College without telling her parents, because they believed that education was not for girls. A college degree was her ticket out of the Bronx. After graduating from Hunter, she enrolled at Columbia where she obtained a master’s degree in music. By that time, she was an accomplished pianist and French horn player, securing her place in the New York city Women’s Orchestra during the war.

Fascinated by psychology, she entered a PhD program at NYU, and several years later she joined the psychology faculty at Hofstra University in Hempstead. She rapidly gained the reputation of a lively and fascinating professor who took genuine interest in her students. Her classes filled quickly, and she became a mentor to many. An early feminist in the late 1950s, she created one of the nation’s first women’s studies programs. And it wasn’t without a struggle.

In 1967, she met Jacob Weissman, chairman of the economics department at Hofstra. As academics, they were drawn to each other — soon to become a power couple in the life of the mind on the Hofstra campus..

In 1968, Nikki and Jacob took a vacation that changed the direction of their lives forever. On the island of Tortola they met Eleanor Pearlson and Julie Sturgis. What ensued was a lifetime friendship made in heaven. Eleanor, never the shy one, insisted that Nikki and Jacob come to visit her on Martha’s Vineyard. They did — and the rest is history.

In 1968, she bought a summer home in Chilmark. When she and Jacob retired in 1984, they became full-time Chilmark residents. She was a founder of the Chilmark Chamber Music Society, along with her friend Dee Stevens. She was also an active member of the Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council and the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center. And she continued playing piano in her Island chamber music group.

Another intriguing passage in her life was her journey from supreme assimilationist to covert Torah reader. As a child growing up in a household of modest means with uneducated Yiddish-speaking parents, she had come to reject all things Jewish. However, during the 1990s, her daughter Elizabeth began studying Judaism. Initially Nikki found this rather incomprehensible. It was the thing she had tried most to leave behind. But as time passed, she began to show a lively interest in the narratives of the Torah, Jewish history, literature and poetry. They would read the weekly Torah portion together. She loved the stories and enjoyed discussing the motives, personalities and psychology of biblical characters.

Nikki Langer came a long way from modest beginnings in the Bronx to a full and active life in Chilmark. Those who knew her cherished a privileged connection. She will be remembered for her love of learning, her music, her kindness to others, her sharp wit and for her relentless advocacy for women. Above all, she will be remembered for what she gave to the younger generations, her students, her children, her grandchildren, her young friends, her helpers and neighbors — be it wise words, comfort, advice, or a place to stay — she engaged others in a magical intimacy. As one of her former students said on learning of her death: “This old world seems even sadder without her.”

She is survived by her daughter, Elizabeth Langer of New York and West Tisbury, her son, Kenneth Langer of Takoma Park, Md., her grandchildren, Ben Chused, Sam Langer, Nora and Amelia Langer, her stepson Stephen Weissman, her step-grandchildren Max Weissman and Maisie Nester, and her great-grandchildren, Sylvia and Ozzie Chused.