Allegra di Bonaventura

Allegra di Bonaventura passed away on April 29, 2026, in New Haven, Connecticut. She was 62. 

Allegra was the Associate Dean at Yale University for Graduate Student Support, the lead academic dean for students across all degree programs in Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She had previously served as Yale’s Associate Dean for Humanities and Social Sciences and Associate Dean for Graduate Education. At Yale Law School, she had served as Associate Director for Graduate Programs and played a central role in building and administering the school’s innovative PhD in Law program. 

In her administrative roles at Yale Law School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Allegra was treasured for her wide-ranging knowledge, analytical brilliance, deep compassion, collegiality, and respect for tradition. She was an effective advocate for Yale students and colleagues. The scores of heartfelt letters of thanks Allegra received over the years from graduate students to whom she gave unstintingly of her time and guidance bear testimony to the many lives she touched with her wisdom and grace.

She was an accomplished historian and writer. Her book, For Adam’s Sake: A Family Saga in Colonial New England (W.W. Norton/Liveright (2013)), was awarded the New England Historical Association’s James P. Hanlan Book Award and was named one of the best books of 2013 by the Wall Street Journal.

Allegra graduated from Middlebury College in just three years with an A.B. in History and German and obtained an A.M. in German through the Middlebury College in Mainz program while studying at Johannes Gutenberg Universität on a full merit scholarship. She also earned a master’s-level degree (D.B.S. Econ.)  from the London School of Economics. Later, while raising two young children, she received a Ph.D. in History with distinction from Yale and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Allegra’s family cherished her unconditional love and loyalty and the effervescent joy she brought to each day. Her husband and children will miss a devoted and loving wife and mother with a lively sense of humor, an eye for style, and a gift for storytelling. Allegra brightened the present and brought the past to life.

She is survived by her husband, James Rosenbluth; her children, Andrew and Alessandra Hogan; her stepchildren, Benjamin, John, and William Rosenbluth; and her siblings, Lorenzo and Laura di Bonaventura.