Microsoft Word - folk04se.doc


 47 

OBITUARIES 
 

Joseph L. Conrad, 1933-2003 
 

Joseph L. Conrad, Professor of Slavic Languages at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, was born on 

June 26, 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri, and passed away in Lawrence on December 21, 2003, surrounded by 

his family.  He is survived by his wife, Galina, one son and two daughters.  He worked almost to the very end.  

In August 2003 he gave a paper at the Congress of Slavists in Ljubljana, but health problems arose during the 

trip, and a diagnosis of fourth-stage pancreatic cancer was made after his return home. 

Joseph did his undergraduate work at the University of Kansas, and upon graduation received a 

Fulbright award for study at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitaet in Frankfurt during the academic year 

1955-56.  After the year in Germany he entered graduate school at the University of Texas, where he studied 

Slavic and Indo-European linguistics with Winfred Lehmann, among others.  His dissertation was on Nikolai 

Marr, whose linguistic theories and the battle to make them dogma had a strong negative impact on the work, 

careers and even lives of many Soviet scholars.  He received the Ph.D. in 1961. 

Joseph was an Assistant Instructor at the University of Texas from 1956-59, and then an Instructor and 

Assistant Professor at Florida State University from 1959-62.  The University of Texas recognized his abilities 

and invited him back as an Assistant Professor in 1962.  He remained at Austin until 1966, when Kansas, his 

alma mater, called him as Associate Professor and Chair to build a strong Department of Slavic Languages and 

Literatures.  His success at this task was recognized in many ways, including promotion to the rank of Professor 

in 1971. 

During the 1960s his research interests turned from linguistics to literature.  His first article, an 

outgrowth of his dissertation, is on Marr�s theories, but the remainder of his more than forty articles are on 

literature or folklore (except for three on language teaching and programs).  Chekhov was the subject of 

nineteen of his articles, starting with his third article and continuing through his paper at the August 2003 

Ljubljana Congress.  Like most scholars of his generation, Joseph was originally primarily a Russianist, but a 

trip to Yugoslavia in the summer of 1970, followed by three summers (1971, 1972, 1975) as Resident Director 

of a cooperative summer Serbo-Croatian language program in Zagreb kindled a lasting passion for Yugoslavia 

and folklore.  His first article on a folklore topic appeared in 1980, and it was followed by fourteen more in the 

ensuing twenty years, with incantations and charms the most frequent topic.  Folklore was the subject of his 

most popular course at Kansas, and the classes filled up to the last seat.  His house became an extension of the 

classroom, with many folkloric objects and displays. 

Several of Joseph�s students now occupy senior positions at American universities, and the Slavic 

program at Kansas remains one of the most important.  He received numerous grants and awards, including six 

IREX awards and Fulbright awards to Croatia and Slovenia.  He served ten years as Chair of the Department at 

Kansas and ran eight summer programs in the USA, Russia, and Yugoslavia.  He was frequently invited as an 

FOLKLORICA 2004, Vol. IX No. 1



 48 

outside evaluator of programs or applications for grants (twenty-five times) and candidates for promotion and/or 

tenure (nineteen times). 

He was also a good friend and good company to spend time with.  We shall miss him greatly. 

 

Charles E. Gribble  

The Ohio State University, Columbus 

FOLKLORICA 2004, Vol. IX No. 1