LEIGH LISKER (1918—2006)
Messages of condolence and memories
 Comments from
• Patrick Nye, with photo
Mario Rossi, with photo
Bh. Krishnamurti
Malcah Yaeger
Greg Guy
Doug Whalen
Laura Koenig
His many friends and colleagues have told me a great deal about Leigh's contributions to the field of phonetics and to Penn, where he spent his entire academic career. The master of so many languages, he was clearly a remarkable man. —Ronald Daniels
Leigh was a true leader in our field. I was fortunate to be able to spend time with him when I visited Haskins Labs over the years and always found him to be not only insightful and thought-provoking, but also very kind. I cite his papers often in my work, and think of him with great respect. He will be missed and his legacy will live on. My sympathies. —Joanne Miller
We had an email from Leigh when he was in the retirement home saying that he was happy there and had congenial companions... he did have a fulfilled life and helped many other workers. —Adrian and Evelyn Fourcin
Leigh has been much missed at Haskins. He was one of our pioneers, and a great colleague and friend. —Carol Fowler
I will always be grateful for Leigh's help and advice when I was beginning my career. So many of us at Haskins benefitted from his knowledge and wisdom. He will be sorely missed. —Andrea Levitt
I knew Lisker's work for years, as one does if one is a phonetician, but I only met Leigh the person in 1983, and even then, though we always greeted each other, we rarely talked until after I had left Haskins Labs for England. Then, whenever we met, he loved to reminisce about professional and family visits to Britain, and through that we began talking about phonetics as well. Through those gentle conversations I learned what a kind, funny, helpful, knowledgable and thoughtful man he was. In recent years, when my own work finds me muttering, for various reasons, much less pretty pairs than his, like 'distaste, despite' and 'Billy Inham, Billy Arken' I sometimes turn back to Leigh's work, and think how exciting it would be if we could have been contemporaries, starting about now. —Sarah Hawkins
I am one of many colleagues/students/friends around the world who deeply admired and actually cherished Leigh Lisker. I first met him when I was a graduate student, in the late 1970’s, and would go to Haskins Laboratories for visits. Leigh was, of course, still coming to Haskins every week in those days, and we all knew that he (and Arthur) got to stay in the library while the rest of us crashed elsewhere in the lab. He was always so warm and interested in my work, and full of wisdom and advice. To this day I continue to refer to and cite his excellent work. I know he had not been well still, his death is hard to accept. Leigh was such an extraordinary person, and he will always occupy a special place in my memory. —Janet Werker
I am deeply grieved by the news of Professor Lisker's demise. I was his student at U. Penn between 1986 and 1991. He was a great teacher and a wonderful person. I still remember his classes. We also traveled to Haskins together once. I was really privileged to be his student. For every small query, he went into great depths and provided a wealth of information. I still have his comments in his hand writing on my term papers which I have preserved till date. Phonetics is one of the subjects I teach now and that invariably brings up reference to his works. May his soul rest in peace. "Om Shanti-Shanti-Shantihi." —Shobha Satyanath
So sorry to get the sad news of Leigh's passing. I much admired him for his many accomplishments and his no-nonsense approach to scholarship. I enjoyed many years of friendship with him, going back to the New York days of the laboratories on East 43d Street. —Donald Shankweiler
On behalf of everyone in the UCLA Phonetics Lab, let me express our sorrow at the loss of one of the original linguistic phoneticians. Leigh's work was such an important force in shaping our field. And on behalf of those of us in the lab whose work has relied in some crucial way on VOT - most obviously me, but also especially Marie Huffman (now at Stonybrook), Taehong Cho (now at Hangyang) and Kuniko Nielsen (who started using VOT at OSU) - I'd like to say, "Thanks, Leigh!". I know that Peter Ladefoged would join in too, if he were here. —Pat Keating
I was a graduate student in linguistics at Yale and at Haskins and Leigh was always a constant gentle presence in my time at Haskins. I could always count on him for the kind word and, concerning my work, the incisive question. He will be missed. —Harriet Magen
Leigh was a very special person and I am grateful that I had a chance to see him the day before he died. I hope the family is finding comfort in knowing how much he meant to so many people. He was so humble, which is why so many people want to shout from the rooftops about how great he was and how much he helped and meant to them (us)! —Rena Krakow
It is with much sadness that I learned of Professor Lisker's passing away. I worked at Haskins on my doctoral dissertation until August 2002 when I completed it and during all these years, I always looked forward to Arthur's and Leigh's coming to Haskins on Thursdays. We always talked about many different things, not just linguistics, and occasionally I joined them for dinner. In addition to his numerous contributions in linguistics, it will be Leigh's radiating warmth and wonderful conversations that I will miss the most. —Iris Smorodinsky
I knew Leigh for about 55 years and treasured his friendship. I shall sorely miss his knowledge and wisdom -- and the wonderful twinkle in his eyes! —Bill Evan
Leigh Lisker was among my first professors at Penn when I was a new graduate student, 35 years ago. (I finished my PhD here and stayed on.) He opened up a new world of study for me--which is still central to my interests--but just as importantly, he was unfailingly kind and generous, a wonderful teacher. Our field has lost an eminent scholar, but at this moment I'm just thinking of the warm, gentle man with a twinkle in his eye, who happened to talk about voice onset time, bandwidth, formant values, and all that. —Sherry Ash
I remember with pleasure the people I encountered at Haskins in 1975-1976, but Leigh is particularly clearly etched in memory. Soon after Quentin and I arrived he was keen to get us into a sound-attenuating booth to record tokens of British English, and, although I can't recall what theoretical position was at stake, I remember being a disappointment in my pronunciation of 'abhor'. He had an inquisitive and incisive intelligence that seemed to be undimmed by the passing years. I know that you and his other collaborators will feel his loss keenly. —Peter Bailey
I had the privilege of knowing Professor Lisker for more than 20 years, and studying with him for the two years of my graduate study at Penn. After that we met at phonetics conferences, and those times were always precious in various ways. Professor Lisker was a great scholar, but easy to talk to, always encouraging and understanding, he had the ability to make even the most complicated things look simple and doable. His openess to new ideas and techniques, combined with experience and wisdom made his company pleasant and exciting, both academically and socially. That, in addition to his sincere interest and understanding of different languages, countries and cultures is what made him a true man of the world. Here at the University of Zagreb, we had the honor of hearing him give a talk in December 2004. Just when you thought that nothing new could be said about VOT he came up with new and fresh insights. For that oportunity we are truly thankful. —Vesna Mildner
I am so sorry to hear about your father's passing. He was a dearly loved man: so gracious, kind and thoughtful. He called me to come in for an interview and hired me to work as the secretary in the linguistics department in October 1974. His voice was so vibrant and strong. I didn't even know what linguistics was as well as phonetics and some other areas. But I stayed in the department for almost 30 years. So it was on a whole a good place for me at Penn. —Carol Lingle
I did not have the good fortune of knowing Prof Lisker personally, but I have benefitted greatly from his work since the beginning of my academic career. —Damien Hall
Although I didn’t know Leigh well, I will always remember how pleasant he was. When he would come to our store, my partner Subhash would always be so impressed with his knowledge of India, as well as its many languages. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word. —Barbara Mirell
I looked forward to seeing your dad when he arrived each Thursday with Dr. Abramson. He was missed when we moved to the new building. He always had a great smile on his face. —Lisa Fresa
He was a remarkable man and with Sara, great and stimulating friends to my parents. I still remember how exciting it was a child to know someone who taught in India and spoke languages of which I had never heard. Pamela and Marty Krasney
He was a great role model and a huge inspiration for me and a whole generation of phoneticians who had the privilege to know him and benefit from his wisdom. —Joaquin Romero
I was so sorry to hear about Leigh's passing. The friendship he and Arthur [Abramson] shared has always been an inspiration to me. We will all miss Leigh. Bryan Gick
|
