Mimi Lerner (May 20, 1945 — March 29, 2007) was a Polish-American mezzo-soprano and later head of the voice department at Carnegie Mellon University.Lerner was born Emilia Lipczer in Sambor, Poland in 1945 to Jewish parents who hid in the woods to avoid Nazis until she was one. They then moved to Paris and later to the Bronx.Lerner graduated from Queens College with a bachelor's degree in music education.