LINGUIST List 26.1400
Fri Mar 13 2015
All: Obituary: Peter J. Binkert (1942-2015)
Editor for this issue: Malgorzata Cavar <gosialinguistlist.org>
Date: 10-Mar-2015
From: Madelyn Kissock <madelyn.kissock
concordia.ca>
Subject: Obituary: Peter J. Binkert (1942-2015)
E-mail this message to a friend Peter J. Binkert, Professor of Classics and Linguistics at Oakland University, passed away on February 10, 2015 after a courageous battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Jackie, his two sons and their spouses, and 6 grandchildren.
Born in New York City and having subsequently moved to New Jersey, Peter attended Rutgers for an undergraduate degree in Biological Studies. He then moved to Michigan to pursue first an M.A. in Classical Studies and then a Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Michigan. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1970, he joined what was then the newly established Oakland University in Rochester, MI and remained there for his entire academic career (43 years).
Peter joined Oakland just as departmental status was conferred on Linguistics -- previously only an interdisciplinary program where all faculty had primary appointments in other fields. He was the first and for some little time, the only, department member whose Ph.D. was in Linguistics. Peter served as chair of the Department for 19 years. He was tireless in promoting and strengthening the Department, integrating Linguistics into the general education curriculum, and educating members of the community about Linguistics -- still a relatively new field. Peter also spent considerable time on community outreach activities, starting up an outreach program for the local Hispanic community that focussed on ESL instruction. In tandem with this project, he created the ESL Center at Oakland University, where students were trained and certified in ESL pedagogy.
Peter was a motivated and enthusiastic teacher and researcher, with primary interests falling into the area of syntax and natural language parsing. His long-term project was developing and refining a parser and he often integrated aspects of this project into his syntax classes. In spite of his interest in theory, he maintained his classical roots
and was instrumental in getting Oakland to restore Latin to the list of languages offered at the University.
We will sorely miss such a fine colleague.
Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable
Page Updated: 13-Mar-2015