Marju Lepajõe

Marju Lepajõe (28 October 1962 - 4 July 2019) was an Estonian classical philologist, translator and historian of religion.

Early life and education Lepajõe was born on 28 October 1962 to the scientists Jaan Lepajõe (et) (an expert in cereal production) and Leida Lepajõe (et) (an expert in chicken and egg production). She had two brothers and a sister; her brother Madis Lepajõe (et) became Deputy Mayor of Tartu in 2018.

Lepajõe graduated from the Department of Philology at the University of Tartu in 1982. Between 1988-91, she studied classical philology at Leningrad State University. In 2018, Lepajõe defended her doctoral dissertation, which was entitled: Pastors and Literary Culture: Variations of Christian Humanism in Estonia and Livonia in the First Half of the 17th Century. She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree as a result.

Career Between 1985-8 Lepajõe was Senior Librarian, Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books at the University of Tartu Library. This was the start of a long academic career there:

1992-3 - Assistant chair of classical philology Reiner Brockmann - the first poet writing in Estonian, the Estonian syrologist Arthur Võõbus, as well as including many other areas. She was a visiting researcher at universities such as: Freiburg, Göttingen, Oslo and London. which include:

1995 Second Prize of the Open Society Fund for English in Social Sciences and Humanities 1999 Presidential Award of the Republic of Estonia 1999 Rector-von-Ewers-Preis from the University of Münster 1999 University of Tartu Raefond Prize for translating 17th century publications 2009 Language and Literature Annual Award for Best Article 2010 Cultural Endowment Literature Endowment Article Award (2009) 2015 Order of the White Star, V Class 2016 Estonian Culture Capital Scholarship " Life and Shine " 2017 Cross of Merit of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3rd degree 2017 Academy Award for the best article in the field of socialia 2018 Enn Soosaar Ethical Essay Prize

Legacy In 2018, Lepajõe was the subject of a documentary by writer and director Vallo Toomla, entitled "Marju Lepajõe: Words of the Day". The film was funded by the Estonian Film Institute and premiered on 27 September 2019.

In 2019, Lepajõe's family, the Postimees newspaper and University of Tartu established the Marju Lepajõe Memorial Fund. This fund aims to recognize and value research and translation. In September 2019 the fund announced its first scholarship competition.