American archeologist, prizewinning dog breeder, socialite, and heiress to the Guggenheim Foundation. As a classical archaeologist, she is best known for the rediscovery of the Temple of Aphrodite, Knidos.
Her parents were the stockbroker Cornelius Ruxton Love Jr. and heiress Audrey Barbara Josephthal. Audrey’s fortune came from the securities firm Josephthal & Co., and her Guggenheim lineage. Iris and her sister grew up in a wealthy family surrounded by a gorgeous collection of furniture, art, sculpture and artifacts from the family travels in China and elsewhere. Iris was very much influenced by her caretaker, a woman who inculcated in the girls a love of the classics: history, culture, art, language, mythology. Iris attended a private girls’ school and Smith College where she met Sylvia Plath. A junior year abroad in Italy cemented her fascination with the Etruscans.
After graduating with honors from Smith, Love went on to study classical archeology at New York University’s postgraduate Institute of Fine Arts but never completed her doctorate. Nevertheless the heiress continued to conduct field work and investigations into ancient archeaelogical finds.
In addition to her love for the classics, she was an ardent fan of Dachshunds and had a breeding kennel in Vermont.
Iris Love died on 19 April 2020 at age 86.
Link to Wikipedia biography