Dear Colleagues,
We write with sorrow to inform you of the death of Howard I. Aronson, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Department of Linguistics, and the Committee on Jewish Studies at the University of Chicago, on Saturday, October 26, at the age of 88.
Aronson joined the University of Chicago in 1962. He was tenured in 1965, and became a full professor in 1973. During his tenure, he served as chair of the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and also as a member of the Committee on Jewish Studies, now the Joyce Z. and Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies. He retired in 2002, but he continued to teach Georgian at the university and to advocate for the study of the less commonly taught languages of the former Soviet Union.
Aronson was a visionary advocate for the study of Slavic languages in their full diversity, and for the incorporation of indigenous and non-Slavic languages of the then Soviet Union into the field as well. His vision helped make the University of Chicago Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures a broad umbrella for research in the region across languages. He also helped to make the University of Chicago a major hub for research in Balkan and Caucasian languages. One of the first scholars in North America to focus on the languages of Caucasia, he organized and published proceedings of nine conferences at University of Chicago dedicated to the non-Slavic languages of the USSR/post-Soviet space as well as several conferences and a journal for the Society of the Study of Caucasia (1989-1996). An expert in both Balkan and Caucasian linguistics, especially Bulgarian and Georgian, he was a founding organizer of the Biennial Conference on Balkan and South Slavic Linguistics, Literature, and Folklore in 1978. The 23rd conference was held this year. Aronson’s publications include a study of Bulgarian morphophonology, two scholarly Georgian language textbooks, and an introduction to Yiddish, as well as many articles and edited volumes.
May his memory be a blessing.
Sincerely,
Anne Eakin Moss
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the College
Alan Yu
William Colvin Professor of Linguistics and the College
Chair, Department of Linguistics