Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 14:08:56 +0100
From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: Daniel Brink 1940-1997
[The following I received earlier today from Peter Lafford, Director,
Language Computing Laboratory, Arizona State University,
<Peter.Lafford@ASU.edu>. -- WM]
Daniel T. Brink, Professor of English and creator and founding Director of
the Humanities Computing Facility at Arizona State University, died Friday,
October 18, 1997, in Tempe, Arizona, USA.. After three years' illness, he
succumbed at 57 to cancer of the brain.
Professor Brink held a B.A in German with a minor in mathematics from
Lawrence University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University
of Wisconsin. After teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, he
came to ASU in 1976 and pursued his two primary academic interests:
historical linguistics, chiefly comparative West Germanic, and humanities
computing. His work in both fields brought prestige to ASU and national
recognition to Professor Brink. Because of his achievements, he was elected
to the Executive Committees of the Society for Germanic Philology, the
Modern Language Association (MLA) Discussion Group for Netherlandic Language
and Literature, the MLA Discussion Group for Germanic Philology, and the
Association for Computing and the Humanities. In addition he wrote regular
editorial columns for both Modern Language Journal and Computers and the
Humanities and was appointed Manager of the Office of Technical Assessment
and Development (1987-88) and Associate Dean for Technology Integration in
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU (1990-92). Before falling
ill in 1995, he was continuing to work to bring historical linguistics and
humanities computing into closer alliance and to bring the combination more
fully into the classroom.
Professor Brink is survived by his wife Jean R. (Wise) Brink, also a
Professor of English at ASU, two sons, Robert Patrick and Peter Curtis, a
daughter-in-law, Pam, and a granddaughter, Dana. He is also survived by his
parents, Elinor (Welch) and Daniel Theodore Brink, and his brothers, John
and Phillip. He was a man of considerable intellect and integrity, a major
force of reason, innovation, and humor at ASU.
[Supplementary note]
The memorial service for Dan will be held Saturday at 3:30 Mountain Standard
Time (same as Pacific Daylight Time until Sunday). The family has requested
no flowers, but rather contributions to a fund in Dan's honor at the ASU
Foundation. Details will be forthcoming on Humanist.
It's strange what one remembers. Of Dan, whom I knew and will miss very
much, a sustained and very funny bit of play with the names of streets in
Toronto, when he visited perhaps for the first time during the 1989 ACH/ALLC
conference. We were at Barron Brainerd's, with Joe Raben and other worthies,
drinking beer, when he launched into "Yonge Street". Had us in stiches, he did.
WM
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Willard McCarty, Senior Lecturer, King's College London
voice: +44 (0)171 873 2784 fax: +44 (0)171 873 5801
e-mail: Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/>
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