Kantor was working with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center to improve the lives of people in wheat-based systems in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Pakistan. The center, also known by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT, provides incentive for maize and wheat production in an effort to reduce hunger and poverty in underdeveloped countries.
Kantor had over 15 years of research experience in the fields of gender relations, informal labor markets, microcredit and economic development — all in places plagued with poverty and famine.
Kantor also worked with the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research.
“She was at the peak of her career, engaged in innovative and important work, with so much more to give to the field and to the world, and it is such a tragic loss,” said Meenu Tewari, professor of city and regional planning.
“The loss is not only personal to us at Carolina especially at the (city and regional planning department), but a loss to the field of international development and global studies.”
Kantor, who died at 46, had published more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles, 10 peer-reviewed briefs and monograms, 10 conference essays and 15 other miscellaneous publications.
Outside of Afghanistan, Kantor had also worked in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Egypt.
In the United States, she worked for the International Center for Research on Women, headquartered in Washington, D.C.
