Susan Herman; professor began leadership programs

Mrs. Herman was born in Boston and graduated from Newton High School in 1960. At 18, she married Richard Herman, with whom she cofounded what became known as Windsor Mountain International Summer Camp in 1961.

Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s ideals of international community and service, the Hermans bought a plot of land on Windsor Mountain in Windsor, N.H., and worked on creating a place that integrated cross-cultural friendship and the summer camp experience.

“They bought it with their fingers crossed,’’ Mrs. Herman’s sister, Ellen Switkes of Oakland, Calif., said of the camp site.

The camp blossomed into one of the first international summer camps recognized and used by the families of United Nations members. It now hosts more than 400 campers from the 50 states and 60 countries.

After she graduated from Brandeis University in 1964 with a bachelor’s in English, Mrs. Herman taught high school English in the Boston area and worked at the camp during the summers. While raising her three children, Mrs. Herman attended Antioch University New England in Keene, N.H., where she received her master’s degree in organization and management in 1981.

In 1987, Mrs. Herman and her husband divorced. She left Windsor Mountain International and started working on her doctorate in organizational development, which she received in 1991 from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

She joined the faculty at Keene State College in Keene in 1988 as a professor of management, specializing in organizational development until 2003. While at Keene, Mrs. Herman helped found the Cohen Center in Holocaust Studies and was active in the women’s studies program. She also published a book, “Hiring Right,’’ about employee management.

Keene State College vice president Jay Kahn said he worked with Mrs. Herman for 15 years. She motivated her students to be more successful, Kahn said.

“She always got the most from her students, more than was expected they would be able to do,’’ he said.

In 2003, Mrs. Herman married Gary Kofinas and moved with him to Fairbanks, Alaska. She took a job as a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, where she founded and directed the Northern Leadership Center, designed a UAF Summer Leadership Institute for high school students, and served as coeditor of the Journal of Management Education.

Mrs. Herman also designed Leadership Fairbanks for the local Chamber of Commerce, a program she modeled after Leadership New Hampshire, a forum that cultivates community and business leaders.

Mrs. Herman’s daughter Sarah, has worked for the past seven years at the Windsor Mountain camp her mother cofounded and is now the camp’s organizational director. She said she realized later in life how fortunate she was while growing up to have been the beneficiary of her mother’s intellect and leadership and organizational skills.

“She used to always help me with my homework when I was little, and when I was in college, she would edit my papers, and after that, she would help me edit my letters, and finally I realized I didn’t need to tap into her editing skills anymore,’’ Sarah said. “I don’t know how many parents could offer support like that.’’

In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Herman leaves another daughter, Melissa, of Hanover, N.H.; a son, Thomas, of New York City, and five grandchildren.

Services have been held.