In Memoriam: Rimvydas (Frank) Silbajoris

[Daniel Collins]

It is with sorrow that we announce the death of Rimvydas (Frank) 
Silbajoris, Professor Emeritus of Slavic and East European Languages 
and Literatures, on December 3, 2005.  Born in Kretinga, Lithuania, in 
1926, Dr. Silbajoris studied French and English Literature at Johannes 
Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, before emigrating to the United 
States.  He received his B.A. (1953)  in English at Antioch College in 
Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he studied under a Foreign Students 
Scholarship.  He received his M.A. (1955) and Ph.D. (1962) in Russian 
Literature from Columbia University.  After teaching at Oberlin College 
(1957–63), Case Institute of Technology (1957–58), and Colby College 
(1961, 1962), he joined the new Department of Slavic and East European 
Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State University as Associate 
Professor in 1963.  He was promoted to Full Professor in 1967 and 
taught at the university until his retirement in 1991.  As Professor 
Emeritus, he continued to teach periodically for the Department and 
also served as Visiting Professor at Vytautas Magnus University in 
Kaunas, Lithuania; at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; 
and Northwestern University.

A distinguished scholar of Russian, Lithuanian, and Latvian literature, 
Dr. Silbajoris was the author of seven books and the editor of five 
others; he published approximately 150 articles, and nearly 300 book 
reviews.  In addition to many university grants, he was awarded grants 
from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, 
the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the Inter-University Travel 
Foundation (now IREX).  He was honored with a Lithuanian Community 
Achievement Award (1982), a Lithuanian Medical Association Achievement 
Award (1985), and the Vilis Vitols Prize (1989), and was awarded a 
Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa from the Latvian Academy of Sciences 
in Riga in 1991.

Dr. Silbajoris was active in service to The Ohio State University, 
where he served on Faculty Council, Faculty Senate, the Graduate 
Council, and the Council on Academic Affairs, as well as on the 
Curriculum Committee, Research Committee, and Promotion and Tenure 
Committee of the College of Humanities.  He served his home department 
in many capacities, including Acting Chair (1970–71, 1972–73, 1985) and 
Chair (1986–89).  While at The Ohio State University, he mentored 
numerous undergraduate and graduate students.
He contributed greatly to his profession with service as President of 
the Institute for Lithuanian Studies (1978–84) and the Association for 
the Advancement of Baltic Studies (1973–74); as Vice-President of the 
Tolstoy Society of America (1987–88) and the Association for the 
Advancement of Baltic Studies (1984–86); as Director of five National 
Endowment for the Humanities summer institutes; and as a member of 
several editorial boards.  He will be greatly missed by his colleagues; 
we extend our deepest condolences his family.

Daniel E. Collins, Chair
Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures
The Ohio State University
400 Hagerty Hall
1775 College Road
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1340
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