Joseph L. Conrad 1933--2003

[Greenberg, Marc L]

A prominent American Slavist and Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the
University of Kansas, Joseph L. Conrad was born June 26, 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri 
and died in Lawrence KS December 21, 2003 at 9:40 PM CST. He is survived by his wife, 
Galina, a son and two daughters. He earned his BA degree from the University of Kansas in 
1955 and, after an academic year as a Fulbright scholar at Johann Wolfgang 
Goethe-Universität (Frankfurt), went on to doctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin, 
where he studied Slavic and Indo-European linguistics under Winfred Lehmann. His 1961 
dissertation concerned the eccentric Soviet linguist, Nikolai Marr.
In 1959 he worked as Instructor and Assistant Professor at Florida State University, as 
Assistant Professor at the University of Texas until 1966, and in the same year moved to the 
University of Kansas, where he was hired as Chairman at the Associate Professor rank. He 
was promoted to Professor in 1970. During his time at Kansas he became involved in study 
abroad programs, accompanying students to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In his 
research and teaching interests he redirected his attention from Indo-European linguistics to 
Russian literature and Slavic folklore. His writings on Chekhov and Turgenev gained him 
national and international reputation. His undergraduate course in Slavic Folklore was a 
perennial favorite among students, always enrolling to capacity. 
He lectured by invitation in Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria. His numerous 
publications appeared in journals in the U.S., Germany, Bulgaria, Scotland, Serbia, and 
Canada. Among his students are several prominent Slavists in tenured positions in U.S. 
universities. He served as a regional and national representative in the field in matters of 
conferences, study-abroad, educational policy, selection committees, academic 
exchanges, and editorial boards. 
Joseph continued working nearly to the end of his life. He attended the Congress of Slavists in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in August 2003. Though he was 
able to deliver his paper “Devils and Devilry in Chekhov’s ‘Thieves/Vory’,” health troubles on 
this trip were diagnosed upon his return to Lawrence as pancreatic cancer already in the 
fourth stage. He died at home with family members at his side.
 
His curriculum vitae is on-line at : http://www.ku.edu/~slavic/conrad_cv.doc
-------------
Marc L. Greenberg
Chair and Professor
Dept. of Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of Kansas
1445 Jayhawk Blvd., Rm. 2133
Lawrence, KS 66045-7590
 
http://www.ku.edu/~slavic