A Farewell to Nim Chimpsky

[Brian MacWhinney]

Dear colleagues:

Nim Chimpsky died on Friday, March 10, 2000, at the age of 26 from a
heart attack at the Black Beauty Reserve in Tyler, Texas. Many of you
will recall that he was the subject of the Columbia University language
experiment in the mid-1970s. I thought a lot about whether I should use
this forum to announce his death as well as whether anyone would care to
know this fact. In the end, I hoped that it would be alright to mark his
death in this way, as it is the passing of a life, albeit a chimpanzee's
life, and one that--whether or not he ever intended it--contributed
greatly to our knowledge of how human children learn. Good bye Nimbo.
Thank you.

Prof. Laura Ann Petitto
Department of Psychology
McGill University