Byron Koekkoek

Published December 10, 2015 This content is archived.

Byron J. Koekkoek, a retired professor of modern languages and linguistics, died Nov. 28 in Beechwood Home. He was 91.

A native of Jennison, Michigan, Koekkoek earned a BAfrom Olivet College in Michigan and an MA from the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Michigan. He earned a doctorate in German and Germanic linguistics from the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Vienna in Austria while on a Fulbright Fellowship.

A specialist in the German language, Koekkoek taught at the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Illinois and the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Texas before joining the UB faculty in 1953. He served as chair of the Department of German and Slavic Languages from 1971-76, and was a member of both the Faculty Senate and ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Senate. He retired in 1995.

Koekkoek authored numerous reviews and articles in journals on the histories of the German and English languages. He was a member of the American Association of Teachers of German, the Linguistic Society of America, the Modern Language Association of America and the Niagara Linguistic Society.

A philanthropist, he established the John H. Koekkoek Foundation for Housing Opportunity and supported the Western New York Peace Center and Trinity Church. He was a trustee of the Park School of Buffalo.