NIU Associate English Professor Jenefer M. Giannasi, described as “a superlative person,” died of a heart attack Monday at Kishwaukee Community Hospital.

Associate English Professor William Johnson said Giannasi, 54, was “an extraordinarily competent individual who was an excellent administrator and a demanding, creative and highly respected teacher and a very fine friend.”

Giannasi had served as an associate English professor for 17 years at NIU where she was director of freshman English from 1977 to 1984, coordinator of English education from 1977 to 1984, acting coordinator of English communication skills from 1981 to 1982, chairman of the English department in 1982, and co-director of the Institute for Instructors of High School and College English in 1973.

Raoul Giannasi said, “My sister was a good human being and a top-flight teacher. She really cared about people, especially her students. Teaching was all that really mattered to her.”

Giannasi was involved with many organizations including the Modern Language Association, the College English Association, the Rhetorical Society of America, the National Council of Teachers of English, Conference of College Composition and Communication and the Illinois Association of Teachers of English.

Giannasi also was active with NIU’s Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity. She was one of NIU faculty members awarded Outstanding NIU Faculty Adviser in 1988 for her work with that organization.

Giannasi earned her bachelor’s degree in 1958 and her master’s degree in 1962 from Wayne State University in Michigan. She earned her doctorate in English and Rhetorical Theory at the University of Iowa in 1971.

Giannasi was born Feb. 20, 1935, in Detroit, Mich. In addition to her brother Raoul, she is survived by a brother in Athens, Ga., and two nieces.

Visitation will be today from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Anderson Funeral Home, 2011 S. Fourth St., with a service at 7:30 p.m. by Father Eric Barr of Christ the Teacher Parish. The funeral will be Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary’s Cemetery, the 700 block of North Fourth St.