{"id":56947,"date":"2026-07-23T12:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/56947\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:45:12","slug":"australian-professor-marguerite-johnson-and-partner-killed-in-tragic-crash-on-greek-island-of-lesvos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/56947\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian professor Marguerite Johnson and partner killed in tragic crash on Greek island of Lesvos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Australian professor Marguerite Johnson and her partner Leni have died in a car accident on the Greek island of Lesvos.<\/p>\n<p>Greek media reported the couple were involved in a fatal car accident on Lesvos last Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The crash occurred on Panagiouda-Moria road, a few kilometres from the capital of Mytilene.<\/p>\n<p>The car carrying the couple rolled over for unknown reasons before crashing into a power pole.<\/p>\n<p>One woman died at the scene, and the other succumbed to injuries during transport to the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation is ongoing as police probe the circumstances around the incident.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Johnson was a classicist at the University of Queensland and earned her PhD at the University of Newcastle.<\/p>\n<p>The 61-year-old specialised in ancient history and the poetry of early sixth-century BCE poet Sappho.<\/p>\n<p>The professor also focused on the works of Catullus and Ovid.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Academy of the Humanities extended its condolences in an online notice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Australian Academy of the Humanities acknowledges, with deep sadness, the death\u00a0of Professor Marguerite Johnson FAHA,\u201d the organisation wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, she\u00a0specialised in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarguerite also researched Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-kate-and-jack-after-the-tragic-loss-of-their-parents?cdn-cache=0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">GoFundMe page<\/a> was set up to ease the financial burden on the couple\u2019s children, covering funeral costs, urgent travel costs, and legal fees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeni and Marg had worked their whole lives to build the retirement they had always dreamed of,\u201d friends of the couple wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey moved to Greece with their three beloved chihuahuas to live their fairytale, embracing the sunshine, the slower pace of life, and a community they quickly came to love.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were truly living the dream they had worked so hard for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of the $30,000 goal, almost $27k has been raised as of early Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian professor Marguerite Johnson and her partner Leni have died in a car accident on the Greek island&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49319,57789,57790,57204,49434,57771,57769,57168,45774,57193,57780,57214,57775,57757,57149,57783,22,23,25470,57763,21,2835,57782,57770,57791,57767,57784,57776,1819,57768,2709,57760,5075,57226,25045,57758,57189,26367,57786,53532,16082,57196,57209,3430,57765,57224,57778,57202,3936,57779,6237,34917,1047,7737,57188,57792,212,57761,57172,57773,41843,37065,57785,57759,57781,57772,46523,57787,38099,41076,41672,39868,51955,45771,57178,38036,57205,36531,41012,57774,57777,49036,41451,57175,57762,57208,37168,57183,57218,51961,38846,57163,57171,57159,57764,1217,57766,57788],"class_list":["post-56947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-children","tag-000-goal","tag-a-car-accident","tag-a-classicist","tag-a-community","tag-a-cultural-historian","tag-a-fatal-car-accident","tag-a-few-kilometres","tag-a-gofundme-page","tag-a-power-pole","tag-a-regular-focus","tag-a-single-vehicle-crash","tag-almost-27k","tag-an-online-notice","tag-ancient-history","tag-and-ovid","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-couple","tag-australian-professor-marguerite-johnson","tag-austrlia","tag-car-crash","tag-catullus","tag-catullus-and-ovid","tag-classical-reception-studies","tag-deep-sadness","tag-early-sixth-century-bce-poet-sappho","tag-early-thursday-afternoon","tag-friends","tag-funeral-costs","tag-getty-images","tag-gofundme-one-woman","tag-greece","tag-greek-island","tag-greek-media","tag-her-partner-leni","tag-her-phd","tag-injuries","tag-its-condolences","tag-last-wednesday","tag-legal-fees","tag-leni-and-marg","tag-lesvos","tag-life","tag-magical-traditions","tag-marguerite","tag-marguerite-johnson","tag-mytilene","tag-newcastle","tag-panagiouda-moria-road","tag-partner","tag-picture","tag-police","tag-professor","tag-professor-johnson","tag-professor-marguerite-johnson-faha","tag-queensland","tag-rome","tag-sappho","tag-sexuality-and-gender","tag-snapp-breaking-or-general-news","tag-the-30","tag-the-61-year-old","tag-the-ancient-mediterranean","tag-the-australian-academy","tag-the-capital","tag-the-car","tag-the-car-crash","tag-the-circumstances","tag-the-couple","tag-the-crash","tag-the-death","tag-the-dream","tag-the-financial-burden","tag-the-greek-island","tag-the-hospital","tag-the-humanities","tag-the-incident","tag-the-investigation","tag-the-island","tag-the-near-east","tag-the-organisation","tag-the-other","tag-the-poetry","tag-the-professor","tag-the-retirement","tag-the-scene","tag-the-slower-pace","tag-the-sunshine","tag-the-university","tag-the-works","tag-their-fairytale","tag-their-three-beloved-chihuahuas","tag-their-whole-lives","tag-tragic-crash","tag-transport","tag-unknown-reasons","tag-urgent-travel-costs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}