In Memoriam Diane Hagner

Diane Mueller Hagner sadly passed away on February 14, 2025 (aged 73).

Diane lived in Mesa, Arizona. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Zoology, and a Masters of Science in Pharmacology/Medical Chemistry, both from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She worked in the field of forensic toxicology for 25 years and served in laboratory management for 15 years. She also dedicated six years to Parkinson's Disease research. In 1980, her passion for the history of Egypt led her to begin a self-study in Egyptology, thereafter earning a Certificate in Egyptology from International Digital University under the supervision by Dr. Tarek Tawfez and Dr. Zahi Hawass. She was a member of the American Research Center in Egypt since 2000 and served as the Vice President for the ARCE Orange County board.

Her commitment to ARCE and insatiable desire to add to her knowledge led her to drive 6 hours to Santa Ana, CA nearly every month for our ARCE-OC lectures until 2020, then a handful of times once we resumed in-person lectures. She had the opportunity to visit Egypt 4 times. Her last trip in Jan-Feb 2020 was a customized creation of her dream Egypt tour. She designed the extensive 36-day itinerary, including lesser-visited sites like Beni Hassan, The Red Monastery, Tanis, Abydos, and Deir el Medina, as well as several in-work excavation sites due to her acquaintances with the supervising Archaeologists. She learned about many of these places from ARCE-OC lectures as well as her own extensive reading. She also had planned an itinerary for one more trip with the focus to see the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum.

Diane accumulated and read hundreds of books over the years (more than 700). She even wrote her own book with a dear friend. She had incredible knowledge of all the sites and was pretty adept at reading hieroglyphs. She loved Egyptology so much that while taking the virtual courses for her Egyptology certificate, she often had to attend class in the pre-dawn hours because the classes were taught from Egypt’s time zone.

Diane presented a lecture for ARCE-OC in January 2025 on the DNA evidence for Tutankhamun’s parentage. This represented the culmination of 15 years of her studies, reading over a thousand articles, as well as her medical chemistry and forensic toxicology expertise.

Diane was fiercely loyal and dedicated to her family, friends, cats and dogs. She never met a cat she didn't love. She was an intellect of the highest caliber and a direct communicator. She is survived by her husband Jerry and two adult sons, Benjamin and Daniel.

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