But Rosenkrantz says she sees her own legacy as an intellectual one. An academic pioneer, she was one of the first to study the history of public health and medicine at Harvard, colleagues say, and she has always been a quick, incredibly intelligent and brilliant scholarly presence.
Mendelsohn says, "We were coteaching the fundamental seminar for all entering graduate students. What I'll remember is the fact that she never let me get away with anything. She'd stop me cold."
But retirement will not take that presence out of the department or the University.
"Next year I'm going to teach a course in evening school," she says. "I'm going to continue to be part of this community."
She will also continue her research, finishing the book she is working on and beginning others.
And students and colleagues say they hope she will keep her promise to be a presence in the community she has belonged to for so long.
"I think my own hope is that Professor Rosenkrantz will continue to be involved in the intellectual life of this department," says Allan M. Brandt, professor of the history of science.
"She has a lot of wisdom we could all benefit from," says Grosz