Cornell professor emerita of design and environmental analysis Madeline Comer Blum, born May 20, 1909, in Osage, Okla., died March 20 in Hemet, Calif., of a heart attack. She was 96.

Blum joined the Cornell faculty in 1955 in textiles and clothing. She was the author of many publications and the recipient of an award from Epsilon Sigma Phi in 1963 for her work in extension. During her 1969 sabbatical, she worked with clothing manufacturers in Zimbabwe -- then called Rhodesia -- and taught at Ranch House College in Salisbury, now Harare. She retired in 1975.

Blum received a teaching certificate from the state of Oklahoma in 1930. She began her teaching career in local public schools. In 1953 she received an M.S. degree from Oklahoma State University and then worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service in Hugo, Okla.

She is survived by her daughter, Joan Case, two grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, two sisters and one brother.