Hadwig Gofferjé, formerly of Newton and Needham MA, passed peacefully surrounded by family on February 28, 2026 in Lincoln, MA. She was 88 years old.

Hadwig was born September 4, 1939 in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany, to Karl Gofferjé and Edith Gofferjé (nee Schmidt). She attended the University of Tübingen in Germany and then moved to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship to Wellesley College in Wellesley MA. She then attended MIT, where she earned her PhD in Chemistry in 1967. While she was at MIT she met her husband, Michael Dertouzos (1936-2001). She spent several years doing research, including at Polaroid, where she worked on developing the photo dyes used in the first instant cameras.

In addition to being a scientist, Hadwig was actively engaged in the arts community. She was an author, a musician and a lover of languages. She played several baroque instruments including the lute, the harpsichord and the viola de gamba. She spoke Greek, Russian, French, and English in addition to her native German. She was an excellent cook and trained at both Chinese and French cooking schools. Hadwig was passionate about her vacation home, a 200-year-old farmhouse in Danbury NH, where she enjoyed spending her time with her long time partner David Baldwin of Pittsfield MA. She took pleasure in working on her flower beds, vegetable gardens, and on her various hobbies in the company of her two cats.

Hadwig is survived by her daughter Alexandra Dertouzos, her granddaughter, Kiera Dertouzos, both of Dedham MA, her son Leo Dertouzos and his wife Jennifer Dertouzos of Dallas TX. She was predeceased by her parents Karl and Edith, and her siblings Dieter and Ute Gofferjé of Germany. She was married to renowned computer scientist Michael Dertouzos from 1961 to 1993.

A celebration of Hadwig’s life will be held on Saturday, September 12 in Danbury NH. Contact the family for further information. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Humane Society of New Hampshire: https://www.nhhumane.org/donate. Copies of her book “A Memoir in Letters, My Life on Both Sides of the Iron Curtain” are available for purchase on Amazon.