Edward Stankiewicz: In Memoriam (1920-2013)

[Goldblatt, Harvey]

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is with great sadness and much regret I write to report that our longtime friend, teacher, and colleague Edward Stankiewicz, the Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and the B. E. Bensinger Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, passed away early Thursday morning, January 31, 2013.

Edward Stankiewicz was ninety-two years old (b. November 17, 1920, Warsaw Poland).

For those of you who are unacquainted with his wide-ranging scholarship, let me simply say that Edward, who was a student of Roman Jakobson and who taught at Yale for two decades, long was regarded as one of the leading Slavic linguists in the world.

As we read in the Festschrift produced in Edward’s honor for his sixtieth birthday:

“Let us mention merely that there is hardly a Slavic language or a topic in Slavic phonology and morphology with which he has not dealt in a novel and provocative way. ... His work in Slavic accentology, unquestionably the most difficult aspect of Slavic grammar, has earned him the reputation of the leading specialist in this field.”

Moreover, as those who knew him well sometimes observed, Edward was not always the easiest person in the world with whom to work; indeed, he could be rather gruff, and even short-tempered on occasion. Yet I shall always remember another Edward, when the better angels of his nature took center stage. On those occasions, there was nobody sweeter, more delightful, and more charming. I shall always remember the late 1990s, when Edward would visit our house to give lessons to my daughter Sara on Latin and Linguistics. On those delightful Saturday afternoons — when terms such as “Indo-European” and “Finno-Ugric” became part of the vocabulary of my thirteen-year old daughter — all Edward ever wanted as “payment” was a glezel tei (“a glass of tea”) and a piece of cake, and he was happy.  Each time he visited our home, he eyes would light up and shine upon seeing his fellow Italian speakers — my wife Madi and my daughters Sara and Elena. That is something I shall ever forget.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not point out that our bonds were always strengthened by his essential “yiddishkeit,” the manner in which he bore witness to the Holocaust, and how his tragic ordeal shaped the rest of his life. Indeed, Edward was memory itself for me, a crucial link to the world of my fathers, a world I never saw and a father I barely knew.

I shall therefore not only remember Edward at his best and most brilliant; but I also always liken his impact to a special road leading me back and allowing me to reach into the deepest fibers of my being and my identity.

Farewell, Edward, my dear friend, beloved teacher, and son of the Jewish people.

Mir gǝzegnǝn zikh, tayǝrǝr khavǝr un balibtǝr lerǝr,
zun fun yidishn folk. A gut, a gutn.

Rest in peace, Edward.

    תהי  נשמתו  צרורה  בצרור  החיים

Sincerely,
-Harvey Goldblatt
Chair, Slavic Languages and Literature

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