Although she was not formally trained in Arctic studies or the humanities, Nef explored a variety of intellectual pursuits during her lifetime.
Early in her life, Nef worked as a puppeteer and singer. She married Bil Baird, a fellow puppeteer, in 1932, and the two worked together until their divorce in 1936.
Nef spent the next few years working on her own as a puppeteer and singer until she met Stefansson, an Arctic explorer whom she married in 1941, according to her autobiography "Finding My Way: The Autobiography of an Optimist."
Stefansson founded the Dartmouth College Northern and Polar Studies Program, which preceded the Arctic Studies Institute at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding.
Nef was trained in the field by her husband and through her own studies, according to her autobiography.
While at Dartmouth, she helped her husband with his research and worked at the Stefansson Library, where she was later appointed head librarian, according to her autobiography. She also taught the Arctic seminar at the College.
Nef published several books on Arctic studies. Her first, "Here is Alaska," was published in 1943, followed by a second book in 1945, "Within the Circle."
Nef continued researching and writing on Arctic studies until her husband's death in 1962. After the publication of her first book, Nef was asked to join and lecture at the Society of Woman Geographers, of which she became president in 1969, she wrote in "Finding My Way."
In 1963, Nef moved to Washington, D.C., where she met John Nef, who had founded the Committee on Social Thought, a graduate program at the University of Chicago. The two married in 1964.
John Nef founded the program because he believed that graduate programs were becoming too specialized and pre-professional, according to Robert Pippin, the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor of Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
"He wanted there to be a grad program where students could get background on a wide variety of issues... [and] follow their ideas wherever their ideas would lead them," Pippin said in an interview.
John Nef also emphasized the importance of "great books" in the program and required all students to select 12 to 15 books that were central to their academic interests to study in-depth, Pippin said.
Though John Nef was no longer living in Chicago by the time he married Evelyn Nef, the couple donated annually to the program and travelled periodically to Chicago to stay involved, according to Pippin.
Evelyn Nef became familiar with several professors and writers through her work on the committee and often attended readings and lectures. Pippin described her as "very experienced and well-read."
She stayed connected to the committee even after her husband's death in 1988.
"She wanted to use the legacy of John Nef's money to maintain the strength of the institution," Pippin said. "She really served like the godmother of the committee."
Nef's philanthropy was not limited to academic institutions. She was a member of the boards of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Washington Opera, the Paget Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the International Longevity Center and the Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children. She was also president of the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Foundation and served on the Advisory Council for the Gerontology Department of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
At the age of 63, Nef earned her degree in psychotherapy from the Institute for the Study of Psychotherapy in New York. She opened her own practice where she worked for 20 years before retiring.
In addition to her honorary degree from Dartmouth, Nef received honorary doctorates from the University of Alaska in 1998 and the Corcoran School of Art in 2000. She was also awarded the Icelandic Order of the Falcon Medal of Honour in 2001.
Linda Yahn, Nef's executive assistant, described her as "a very energetic, very intelligent, very interesting person."
A memorial service will be held for Nef in Hanover on Jan. 22.
