LINGUIST List 10.1722

Fri Nov 12 1999

All: Obituary: Simon Belasco

Editor for this issue: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar <aristarlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Stanley Dubinsky, Obituary: Simon Belasco

To the Linguist List,

I am sad to report that Professor Simon Belasco passed away on
Wednesday, November 10, 1999.

The following obituary was printed in "The State" newspaper
(Columbia, SC) this morning (November 12, 1999). Through his
career as a scholar of French and Linguistics, Si Belasco touched
many lives and the Linguistics Program at USC would like to collect
the recollections of his students, colleagues, and friends in order to
honor his memory. If you would like to respond to this obituary notice,
please send your message to dubinskysc.edu. We will be posting
these on a website dedicated to Si's memory. If you would further
like to make a memorial donation, either to the Hardee-Belasco
Scholarship Fund or to the Palmetto Health Hospice, information is
contained in the obituary notice below.

- Stan Dubinsky
 Director, Linguistics Program
 University of South Carolina

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 Obituary notice from The State (11/12/99)

Graveside services for Simon Belasco, professor emeritus of French and
Linguistics at the University of South Carolina and Pennsylvania State
University, will be held at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, November 14, 1999 at
Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery. Visitation will immediately
follow at the home. Memorials may be made to the Hardee-Belasco
Scholarship Fund, Department of French and Classics, U.S.C., Columbia,
SC 29208 or to Palmetto Health Hospice, c/o Palmetto Baptist
Foundation, P.O. Box 11304, Columbia, SC 29211

Professor Belasco died Wednesday, November 10, 1999. Born in
Philadelphia, Penn., he was a son of the late Albert and Sarah
Belasco. After graduating from Temple University, he served as an
interpreter for the French Naval Mission during World War II before
serving as a Captain in the U.S. Army. He then received his Ph.D. in
French from the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Belasco's long
and distinguished teaching career was spent chiefly at Pennsylvania
State University and, more recently, at U.S.C., where his 20 years of
service included a two year term as Chairman of the Department of
Foreign Languages and Literature. A renowned and widely published
scholar in the fields of linguistics and second language acquisition,
he was honored as teacher of the year by the Pennsylvania Modern
Language Association and was decorated by the French government for
outstanding contributions to French culture. His specialty was the
Occitan language of southern France.

Surviving are his wife, Cathie Freibert; sons, Larry Belasco of Ft.
Collins, Colo., David Belasco of Bardonia, N.Y.; daughter Allyson
Belasco of Boca Raton, Fla.; five grandchildren.