Dr. Eleanor Main carried her considerable influence and compassion beyond her Emory University classroom, beyond the campus at large and into Georgia's political process.

As one of the first women professors at Emory, she was at the vanguard of creating the Center for Women at Emory. Three Georgia governors — George Busbee, Joe Frank Harris and Zell Miller — appointed her to 10 state boards and task forces.

Emory University (ENLARGE)

Dr. Eleanor Main is honored at Emory in 2003.

"She was smart as a whip," said Gov. Miller of Young Harris. "She was quite an academic and, at the same time, a practical woman. She understood the practicality of politics and how it works. I found her a kindred soul."

Dr. Main, who earned her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina, joined Emory's faculty in 1969, as a political science professor, and rose to be director of the university's division of educational studies.

The memorial service for Dr. Eleanor Catherine Main, 65, who died of liver cancer at her Atlanta residence Feb. 8, is 3 p.m. Friday at Emory's Canon Chapel. The body was cremated. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

Since childhood, Dr. Main had an interest in politics and knew she wanted to be a college professor, said her twin sister, Jeannie Main, of Washington. As a teenager, her summer fun was watching Robert Kennedy on television, conducting the U.S. Senate's racketeering investigation of labor unions, her sister said.

Dr. Main never lost that interest in politics. "She always had C-SPAN on," said Dr. Carole L. Hahn of Decatur, Emory's Candler professor of educational studies. Dr. Main was an advocate for children, women's rights, equity in teacher salaries, effective and economic government and a range of other issues.

"She thought everybody should have equal opportunities and advantages. Each life was valued," her sister said.

In 1975, Gov. Busbee appointed Dr. Main to the Governor's Committee on Women in Politics. By 1990, her efforts to create a women's center at Emory became a movement, said Ali P. Crown of Atlanta, director of the center. Because Dr. Main wanted to build a community of women on campus, the center, opened in 1992, served female faculty and staff, as well as students, Ms. Crown said.

Political appointment No. 10 came in 1992, when Gov. Miller named her to the Department of Juvenile Justice board.

"She made Georgia a little better place for children who are in trouble or who are forgotten," said Gov. Miller. "She brought a great deal of heart and soul to the issue."

On campus, she was no less impressive. "She served Emory in every imaginable capacity," Dr. Hahn said. "She was an incredible problem solver."

To Dr. Main, her role extended to smoothing the way for students to succeed after graduation or writing a check when a colleague or student needed help, Dr. Hahn said.

Her efficient mien was nowhere to be seen when Dr. Main watched University of North Carolina basketball games on television. "The words that came out of her mouth were not ladylike," her sister said.

"She was spirited," Gov. Miller said. "She was one of the most remarkable women I've ever known, and one of the strongest women I've ever known. Some of my most unforgettable memories in my life were times I spent with Eleanor."

There are no other immediate survivors.