Ljiljana Lekic-Sidman

February 13, 1944 – May 13, 2025

Ljilana Lekic-Sidman, neuroscientist and collaborator with her late husband Richard L. Sidman

Ljilana Lekic-Sidman passed away on May 13 at U. Mass Memorial Hospital in Worcester, MA. For the last several years, she had been a resident of Beaumont Rehabilitation and Health Center, in Northborough, MA, along with her late husband Richard Sidman who passed away in March of last year. (For Richard's obituary, please see https://www.haysfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Richard-L-Sidman?obId=31002819 .)

Ljiljana was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1944. From early childhood she exhibited an enthusiastic curiosity and love of learning that persisted for her entire life. Growing up, she overcame many cultural and familial obstacles to pursue these passions, eventually graduating from University of Belgrade in Biology and then coming to the United States to attend graduate school in the Biology Department of Harvard University.

While at Harvard, she worked in the neuroscience lab of Dr. Richard Sidman, Bullard Professor of Neuropathology at Harvard Medical School. They later fell in love and were married in 1973. Although she stopped pursuing her own studies, she became an active collaborator with her husband for the rest of their careers, working closely with him on all of his publications, adopting computer technology in innovative ways, and contributing significantly to the many professional relationships they had with other researchers in the field. In recent years this especially included fellow scientists Evan Snyder, Wadih Arap and Renata Pasqualini, with whom they co-authored publications right up until 2021 when Ljiljana had a fall that caused her to enter rehab.

She is survived by two step-sons and their families. She will be buried along with her husband in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge MA. Arrangements have been under the care and direction of Hays Funeral Home, 56 Main Street, Northborough, MA 01532.