Lelia K. Washburn, 90, who taught ancient and modern European history at American University from 1959 until her retirement in 1977, died Feb. 15 at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. She was a District resident.

Mrs. Washburn had cancer, her son, Alexandros Washburn, said.

Elisavet Georgia Kanavarioti was born in Athens and was a 1946 graduate of the American College of Greece. In the late 1940s, she moved to New York City to work at the United Nations. She received a master’s degree in American studies from Harvard University in 1953 and moved to the Washington area in 1958....