LEIGH LISKER (1918—2006)

Doug Whalen
Comments on Leigh Lisker

Leigh Lisker was an integral part of my experience of Haskins Laboratories from the time I arrived in 1978 until Leigh’s death this year. Not only did he establish (along with his side-kick, Arthur Abramson) one of the most useful measurements in phonetics (VOT), he also brought his clear thinking to any problem that came before him. His questions at our staff meeting talks usually went straight to the heart of the issue, whether the talk was in one of his specialties or not. He and Arthur made quite a team, and they fully supported the ambient quality of the Lab that the science (and getting it right) is what is important. This insistence on scientific rigor continues to this day.

It was a big day for me when I thought of a project that could involve Leigh and Arthur (and Maria Mody), one that, quite naturally, investigated VOT. The writing was quite instructive, even though I had a few papers under my belt by this time, because of Leigh’s insistence that every sentence say what we meant it to say and not something closely related. We spent one memorable afternoon rewriting a single paragraph—it was a tricky issue, and we stuck it out until we had really come up with just the right phrasing. These papers have made a lasting contribution, with both of them having been cited within the past year. I’m still grateful that I got the chance to work with Leigh directly.

Later on, it was another charge to become Leigh’s boss! When our long-running program project grant received a spending cap, we had to split off some of our best people (since that was about all we had). I ended up being the Principal Investigator of a new grant, and Leigh and Arthur (and Ignatius Mattingly), after a combined century of work at the Lab, ended up working for the Johnny-come-lately. Anyway, it was great to have them contributing to a grant that has just entered its tenth year (with at least five to go). I was especially pleased to be able to fund Leigh’s trip to Croatia to receive one last international recognition of his accomplishments. The trip required the active collaboration of his daughters, but he received his recognition and had a great time.

Leigh was also just a lot of fun to have around. I miss him, and I will continue to miss him.

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