Emmon Bach

Early years Bach's parents, Ditlev Gotthard Monrad Bach and Ellen Sigrid Bach - originally from Copenhagen, Denmark - were Lutheran missionaries in Japan.

Education He "did his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Chicago, with a Ph.D. in Germanic studies in 1959."

Academic career His first regular academic job was at the University of Texas at Austin where he taught from 1959 to 1972. He started in the German department and gradually switched to linguistics. He was part of the newly formed linguistics department.

During the 1980s and 1990s Bach worked extensively in British Columbia. When he first arrived in Kitimaat, Mike Shaw, a Haisla speaker, asked "Why should we help you, what good will all that do for us?" "From this exchange Bach formulated what he has come to call Mike Shaw's Principle: Time and resources for community-relevant research and activities should equal those devoted to community-external aims." In 2015, the LSA created the Emmon Bach Fellowship fund, which provides awards for students to cover costs of participation in the biannual Institute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang).

Personal life Both his first wife, Jean Bach, and his daughter, Meta Bach, predeceased him. He is survived by his wife Wynn Chao of London, his son Eric Bach and grandson Stevie Bach of Madison, his stepsons Morriss, David, and Joel Partee, his stepchildren Christopher and Gabriella Lewis, step grandchildren Sean Partee, Sara Davis, and Rachael Davis Partee, his second wife Reed Young of Houston, and his third wife Barbara Partee of Amherst. He moved to London, England in 2002.

Selected publications