sreda, februar 09, 2005

Rado Lenček passes away in New York

Prominent Slovene-American scholar Rado Lenček died in New York on 27 January after a long illness. He was 84 years old.

Lenček was born in 1921 in Mirna na Dolenjskem and studied in Novo Mesto, Ljubljana and Padua. After World War Two, he worked as a professor in Slovene elementary schools in the British and American zones of the Free Territory of Triest, in Gorizia and Triest itself. Also in Triest he edited a cultural bulletin for the United States Information Service.

He moved to the United States in 1958 to study at the University of Chicago, and from 1959 to 1962 he studied at Harvard, earning a doctorate in Slavic languages and literature. He was recognized as a leading linguist, Slavist, cultural historian and ethnologist, and published numerous books, articles and studies.

Lenček was also one of the founders of the US-based Society for Slovene Studies and was a professor at New York City’s Columbia University until his retirement in 1995. In 2001, Lenček was awarded the Honorary Mark of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia, and had also been named an honorary ambassador of Slovenia for science [Newsletter of the Society for Slovene Studies / 02.05 / Rado Lencek, Delo / 28.01.05 / Umrl je Rado Lenček].