LINGUIST List 9.1478

Thu Oct 22 1998

All: Obituary: Teun Hoekstra

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Jeroen van de Weijer, Obituary: Teun Hoekstra

In Memoriam : Teun Hoekstra

Last Sunday, October 18, Teun Hoekstra died in Los Angeles after
a prolonged illness that he fought bravely.

Teun entered the Dept. of Dutch Language and Literature of Leiden
University as an Assistant Professor in 1979. In 1984, he joined
the Dept. of General Linguistics, where he became an Associate
Professor in 1986. He wrote his dissertation, 'Transitivity:
Grammatical Relations in Government-Binding Theory', in 1984. In
those years, Teun developed into one of the leading syntacticians
in the Netherlands, and soon established his reputation in the
world. He always put his own ideas, and those of others, to a
relentless but constructive criticism, and thus helped the field
to develop. He inspired students and colleagues, and he remained
doing so when he was ill. Naturally, Teun was one of the leading
figures in the Holland Institute for Generative Linguistics 
(HIL).

We are very sad. We will miss Teun's intellectual power and warm
personality immensely. Our thoughts are with his wife Nina Hyams,
and with his three children. 

The cremation took place in Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 20.
There will be a memorial service for relatives, friends,
colleagues and students in Leiden on Wednesday, October 28, in
the 'Groot Auditorium' of the Academy Building, Rapenburg 73. 
Time: 11 a.m., sharp.

Jan Kooij (for the Department of General Linguistics)
Harry van der Hulst (for the Institute HIL)