LINGUIST List 10.625

Thu Apr 29 1999

All: Obituary Walter A. Cook, S.J.

Editor for this issue: Brett Churchill <brettlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Catherine N. Ball, In memoriam: Walter A. Cook, S.J.

Father Walter A. Cook, S.J., Professor of Linguistics Emeritus at
Georgetown University, died Tuesday evening, April 27th at 7:00
p.m. at Georgetown University Hospital as a result of complications
following surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Viewing will be in the Jesuit Community Chapel on Thursday, April 29th
from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. and in Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart from
6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 8:00 p.m. in
Dahlgren Chapel. Interment will be Friday, April 30th in the Jesuit
Cemetery at 9:30 a.m.

Father Cook was born February 17, 1922 in Washington, D.C. He studied
Philosophy at Woodstock College, Md; Theology at De Nobili College in
Poona, India and at St. Mary's College in Murseong, India. He was
ordained at the latter on November 12, 1952. He also studied at
St. Stanislaus College, Hazaribagh Dt. India. While in India, in
addition to his pastoral work, he studied Sanskrit, and the local
languages.

In 1962 he returned from India and enrolled in the newly established
doctoral program in the Institute of Languages and Linguistics,
completing his doctorate in 1965. He taught in the department until
1993. As a professor of linguistics Fr. Cook taught courses in syntax
and semantics and excelled as a expositor of theory and as a linguist
who managed to give all these theoretical models practical
applications.

Fr. Cook wrote numerous articles, books and manuals that served as
standard textbooks in linguistics. He had the uncommon ability to
simplify the complex and reduce vague and obscure processes to
digestable diagrams. Research in and the teaching of Linguistics
defined his professional life. He was a very popular teacher, devoted
to his students. During his tenure in the Department of Linguistics,
he was twice elected chair.

May he rest in peace.

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Catherine N. Ball | Assoc. Prof. and Chair
Department of Linguistics, 480 Intercultural Center
Georgetown University, Washington DC 20057
Office: (202) 687-5956 FAX: (202) 687-6174
cballgusun.georgetown.edu
http://www.georgetown.edu/cball/cball.html
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