Sad news about David Shulman

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

  A few moments ago I learned that David Shulman passed away on Wednesday. That morning he hadn't been feeling well and asked to be taken to the hosptial, and shortly after his arrival there he died.

   I had called his nursing home to tell him that the "hot dog" book (authors: Cohen, Popik, Shulman) was finally at the print shop and would be ready in a few weeks. The security guard answered the phone and gave me the sad news.

    For a very brief statement on David's work here is what I had prepared for the back cover of the book (with his input):
   "David Shulman, born 1912, is an independent scholar who researches various subjects in lexicography and for the past 30 years has been prolific in contributing antedates to the Oxford English Dictionary.  He is a fixture at the New York Public Library, which he has visited daily for the past 50+ years whenever it is open, and his focus on earliest attestations led him to the correct conclusion that the origin of 'hot dog' is to be sought in college slang.  He was interviewed by Bob Simon on Sixty Minutes 2 and by Leonard Lopate on Public Broadcasting Radio.  Douglas Martin did two profiles on him for the New York Times.  During World War II he served in Military Intelligence, 2nd Signal Corps Battalion, working on Japanese codes."

    I'd guess that with respect to his work on language, David would most like to be remembered for his antedatings sent to the OED. He is one of the unsung heroes of lexicography.

Gerald Cohen