William Davies

WILLIAM DAVIES

Iowa City

William Davies, 63, an inspirational professor of linguistics at the University of Iowa, died Friday, Aug. 18, 2017, at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics because of complications of a stem cell transplant in the course of a long struggle with diffuse large B cell lymphoma. He was surrounded by his loved ones. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, Sept. 30, in the South Room of the Iowa Memorial Union, University of Iowa, from 2 to 5 p.m., with a sharing at 2:15 p.m.

His family is sponsoring a bone-marrow donor drive during the celebration to benefit people diagnosed with blood cancers.

Bill was born in Rochester, N.Y., to Hubert Davies and Mabel (nee End) Davies. He grew up in Irondequoit, N.Y., with his older brother, Richard. He met his wife, Patricia Weir, at Duke University, and they were married in Richmond, Va., in 1977. He devoted himself to Patty and their children, Billy and Kate, for all of his days.

Bill became interested in linguistics during his undergraduate studies at Duke, and pursued graduate work at the University of North Carolina and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He received his Ph.D. in linguistics at UCSD in 1981, completed postdoctoral studies at Cornell University and became an assistant professor at California State University, Sacramento. Bill, Patty, and their son, Billy, moved to Iowa City in 1986, when Bill accepted a position as assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Iowa. Their daughter, Kate, was born in Iowa City in 1988.

During his time at the University of Iowa, Bill became a full professor and spent many years as chairman of the Department of Linguistics. He was a gifted linguist, teacher, colleague, mentor and friend. He contributed to the field of linguistics and to the University of Iowa in numerous ways, including authoring publications, obtaining grants, winning awards for teaching and scholarship, editing and refereeing journals, serving on committees and mentoring students and junior colleagues. He was an advocate for the Department of Linguistics and other small departments when the climate at the university changed such that small departments struggled for survival.

Bill was a highly respected theoretical syntactician and a preeminent scholar of Austronesian languages, specializing in Madurese, Javanese and Baduy. Starting with his Ph.D. work in Choctaw and continuing with other languages, much of Bill's research united his expertise in syntactic theory with his passion for documenting and preserving languages. He had a deep respect for the people and cultures he encountered and made consistent efforts to give back to those who graciously allowed him into their space to do research. He documented the language of Madurese in its first and only comprehensive grammar while simultaneously preserving and rendering accessible the rapidly disappearing Madurese folk story traditions for their next generation. His co-authorship of a forthcoming book on language conflict and language rights speaks to his desire to make his scholarship relevant and to leave the world better than he found it. He dedicated the book, "to all people past and present who have lost their language/their (original) voice or had it forcibly ripped from them and have suffered the countless attendant indignities."

Bill was a gentle, intelligent person, who was a role model, friend and inspiration to all who came in contact with him. He had a unique sense of humor that was elusive to some, but almost always reached its target audience. Those lucky enough to know Bill outside of academia understood that his gift for teaching extended far beyond the classroom – he had a gift for sharing his passions, from sports to music, with those around him. He was an excellent baseball coach, who taught skills to individual players and facilitated cooperation among teammates.

He was devoted to his family, friends, colleagues, students, profession and the University of Iowa. He also loved traveling; scuba diving; the national parks; his cats, Pumpkin and Callie; and a great cup of coffee.

Bill is survived by his loving wife, Patty Weir, of Iowa City; his son, Billy, of Oakland, Calif.; his daughter, Kate, of Los Angeles; his brother, Richard (Vince Langevin), of San Francisco, Calif.; and many loving family members.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Bill's family would like memorial contributions to be made to the University of Iowa Department of Linguistics, c/o The University of Iowa Foundation, P.O. Box 4550, Iowa City, IA 52244-4550; and to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, Wall Street Plaza, 88 Pine St., Suite 2400, New York, NY 10005.

In memory of Bill, his family is sponsoring a Bone Marrow Donor Drive on Sept. 30 during the celebration of his life from 2 to 5 p.m. in the South Room of the Iowa Memorial Union.

Online condolences may be directed to www.lensingfuneral.com.