Remembering Lisa

For 13 issues beginning with Spring 2019, the Cornell Report benefited from the skilled editing and writing of assistant editor Lisa Gray Giurato. Her contributions ended on June 9, 2023, with her unexpected passing.

Lisa was an integral part of the team that produced the award-winning “I See You” issue of the Cornell Report in 2021 with guest editor Heather Byrd Roberts ’09. It was Lisa’s passion project. That issue uplifted the voices of alumni of color, and she strove to continue that work in every issue. In 2022 she extended those efforts by accepting a position on Cornell’s Diversity Committee, serving the Cornell campus community and ensuring it is welcoming to all.

Lisa overcame many hardships, and her fierce compassion for the underrepresented and underserved defined her outlook on life, permeated her writing, and underscored how she raised her two sons. As a single mother, she based her decisions on what was best for Jack (now a high school junior) and August (a Cornell sophomore) and made sure they grew up to be compassionate and responsible, like her. In 2011 she followed her dream—and the hope for a better life for her boys—when she entered the nonfiction creative writing program at the renowned Iowa Writers Workshop. After earning her M.F.A. and gaining additional experience, in 2016 she joined the Office of Marketing and Communications at Cornell College. She was a gifted writer, editor, strategist, and valued colleague for nearly seven years. 

Lisa was compassionate, calm, reflective, and known for being prepared. We were wholly unprepared for her loss.