Sylvia Sukoff Hacker, a beloved soul, departed this life on January 13th, 2013.

Sylvia died peacefully in her sleep at her apartment in Lawrence, Kansas. A lifelong opponent of both exercise and vegetables, she nevertheless survived in remarkable health to the age of 90. Her long life was filled with accomplishment and radical thinking. She was born October 19, 1922. She earned a BS in Biology from Brooklyn College where she met her husband, Charles Hacker, who passed away in 1978. She earned an MA from SUNY Cortland and went on to earn her PhD at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor at the age of 53. She was given a dual appointment at the UM School of Nursing and School of Public Health where she taught courses in Human Sexuality and ruffled many a Puritanical feather with her outspoken theories on the sexuality continuum and her advocacy of "outercourse" as a means of safe sexual activity for adolescents. Her notoriety was further confirmed through appearances on Phil Donohue and Montel Williams, the publication of her book What Every Teenager Really Wants to Know about Sex and the production of her own TV show, "Sexy Minutes." Even at the age of 89, she remained a star, appearing in commercials for Brandon Woods, the retirement community where she lived for three years. She collected jokes and appreciated humor of all types and was well known for her oft-stated epigram: "Human beings are highly overrated." A woman of vitality and joie de vivre, she maintained her intellectual curiosity throughout her life and was a great favorite of all who met her. Perhaps her greatest gift was her cheerful willingness to adjust, and adjust well, to whatever situation she was dropped into and there is little doubt that she will use this gift wherever she is now. She will be daily missed by her daughters, Randi Hacker and Avry Budka, her granddaughter, Juliana Hacker, and her sister, Sunnie Kurtzman, as well as countless relatives and friends. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the University of Michigan School of Nursing, 400 N. Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5482. Please put Dr. Sylvia Hacker Scholarship Fund on the memo line.

Published in AnnArbor.com from January 14 to January 17, 2013

Additional information:

Sexy Bytes - Sylvia Hacker's home page at the University of Michigan: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hackers/