Obituary of Anne-Marie Henriette Bourbon

Anne-Marie Henriette Bourbon, 86, New York, passed away on June 26, 2023, after a brief illness. 

Anne-Marie was Professor Emeritus of French at Queensborough Community College (QCC), City University of New York. She retired in 2012 after serving as Chair of the QCC Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.  Earlier, she also taught at the United Nations International School, then housed in Parkway Village, Queens.

Anne-Marie held a BA and MA from Queens College, and a PhD in French Literature from the City University of New York.  Her dissertation, published in 2000, was a translation of The Debate of Folly and Love by Louise Labe, a 16^th century Renaissance poet from Lyon. Anne-Marie also co-authored Tresors Litteraires, a French reader, and other journal articles.  Above all, she was a dedicated teacher who loved her students. 

Anne-Marie was born in Briancon, France, in the French Alps, on August 2, 1936, daughter of Louis Marius Alexandre Bourbon and Fernande Marie Augustine Bayrou.  At a young age, she moved with her parents and six brothers and sisters to Toussieu, a village near Lyon. After completing her education, she moved to London where she worked at the Charles Peguy Center.  There she met her first husband, Michael Geoghegan, a British diplomat whose career with the Foreign Office and later with the United Nations took him to the Philippines and many other countries.  They had two sons, Christopher Henry Bourbon Geoghegan and Alan Charles Bourbon Geoghegan. 

Anne-Marie re-married Roger Kail Baumberger, an investment banker in New York, in 1993.  He pre-deceased her in January 2021. They enjoyed their life together in Forest Hills, New York, frequently entertaining at home and at the West Side Tennis Club.  They loved trips to France each year and tours to many other parts of the world.  Anne-Marie sang with the Oratorio Society of Queens; participated in the Institute for Retired Professionals (now the Lifelong Peer Learning Program); and was a pillar of her longstanding book club.

 Anne-Marie leaves behind her two sons, Christopher and Alan; three stepchildren, Karen, George, and Alex Baumberger; and their spouses.  She is also survived by her grandson, Paul Henry Feinauer-Geoghegan; her niece Claude Ferrari Frangopoulos of Astoria, New York; her brother, Maurice Bourbon; her sister, Michele Ferrari; and an extended family in France.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Anne-Marie’s memory to the Oratorio Society of Queens.