Charles Edward Townsend

Charles Edward Townsend (September 29, 1932 – June 7, 2015) was an American Slavicist and linguist who served as chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University from 1970 until his 2002 retirement and who authored several well-regarded works on the Russian and Czech languages as well as on Slavic linguistics.

Early life and education Townsend was born in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in rural Vermont. After attending Trinity School (New York City) in New York City on a football scholarship, he was accepted to Yale University where he studied German. Graduating magna cum laude in 1954, he then spent a year studying at Bonn University on a Fulbright scholarship.

Having deferred military service during this time, he entered the U.S. Army upon his return from Bonn. which was later published as a book and has been called a "pioneering document" in the study of autobiography and gender in the Russian context.

Career and impact Whilst at Harvard Townsend began his teaching career and, by the time of his departure, held the position of Assistant Professor. In 1966 he moved to the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton, of which he became chair in 1970. He held this position until his retirement in 2002. In addition to linguistics he also taught courses on Russian, Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian and Old Church Slavonic. Townsend also spent stints as a visiting lecturer in the US, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Russia. Spoken Prague Czech, as well as a comparative analysis of the Slavic languages which was translated into German in 2002 and Korean in 2011. It may be stated without fear of contradiction that Professor Charles E. Townsend of Princeton University has been the most influential writer on Russian and Slavic grammar in the United States.Legacy Following his retirement, Townsend donated an enormous collection of books to the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University. The some one thousand dictionaries, grammars, monographs, and other works form the core of the present Departmental Library.

In 2015 a memorial fund was established by the Slavic Linguistics Society to "honor and perpetuate his memory by recognizing young contributors to the field of Slavic linguistics"

Awards and honors "Distinguished Contribution to the Profession Award" (American Association of Teachers of Slavic Languages and Literatures) Honorary membership (Czech Linguistic Society) Where One's Tongue Rules Well: A Festschrift for Charles E. Townsend ''