In Memoriam:

Franklin Eugene Horowitz (1932–2022)

Franklin Eugene Horowitz was a professor in the Applied Linguistics Program at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1978 until he retired in 2013, and he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Linguistic Association (ILA) beginning in 1962, when it was still known as the Linguistic Circle of New York. He died on January 31.

Frank was born on May 23, 1932 in New York City. He dedicated most of his life to the study and teaching of language. In 1971, he received his Ph.D. in linguistics at Columbia, where he was a student of Uriel Weinreich. He wrote his dissertation under Weinreich's direction: Sievers' Law and the Evidence of the Rigveda. It was published in book form by Mouton in 1974.

In 1978, he joined the faculty in the Program in Applied Linguistics at Columbia’s Teachers College, where he taught courses in linguistics—general, historical, and applied—until his retirement in 2013. During those 35 years of service at TC, students flocked to his classes. His enthusiasm for language inspired legions of masters and doctoral students, who continue the work of teaching linguistics to their own students around the world.

Frank was an active member of the International Linguistic Association beginning with his graduate student years. He served on ILA's Executive Committee during several periods from 1962 to 2015. He delivered papers at the Association’s conferences, chaired ILA's 1966 Annual Conference, published articles and reviews in its journal, WORD, and served as the Association’s President from 1999 to 2002.

The ILA Executive Committee will remember with gratitude Frank’s dedication and contributions to the Association along with his warmth and contagious laughter at our monthly meetings and conference gatherings. We wish to offer our condolences to his beloved wife and friend of the ILA, Regina Horowitz.

Franklin E. Horowitz spent nearly 50 years of his life mentoring future language educators and serving the International Linguistic Association with benevolence and aplomb. His former students and his ILA colleagues and friends will miss him greatly.