Jerry Lee Norman

When I first started at UW I was having trouble registering for first year Chinese as it had been filled up. Chen Laoshi told me that a new section had opened up and we would be getting a special treat, Dr. Norman would be teaching first year Chinese to us.
I've never had a more talented and patient language teacher. His demeanor was always supportive. He always had time, even for the newest Freshman on campus. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to learn from such an esteemed scholar. He will be missed by all his former students.
I offer my condolences to his family and my eternal gratitude to Dr. Norman himself.

I had the honor and perhaps the audacity to call Jerry a colleague, even though he was the most professional of linguists and I a mere amateur dabbler. Still I relish the times I sat with him and talked Min vocabulary and such arcana. He was not only modest and unassuming in his erudition, as so many have said, but he always gave the impression of having *fun* with Chinese and its dialects. I also loved his book on Chinese, which I still consult whenever my language-geek personality takes over.

Stella Laoshi, and your children, please accept my inexcusably late condolences.

When Dr. Norman passed away, I was in China, where I could not get access to the internet. I was deeply saddened to learn it. Dr. Norman was a great scholar and wonderful teacher, as well as a kind mentor. I remembered a story just after I arrived in Seattle. Dr. Norman took Janet and I went to visit an aquarium. Right after we got off the bus, we started to run. According to Chinese culture, we should fight for buying the tickets regardless we had the money or not. Of course Dr. Norman bought the tickets for us. He laughed and said: “I am very happy to bring you to the aquarium, but just don't let me run that much!” Dr. Norman was just like a great friend although he was really my respectful teacher. While I was at UW, he was always very kind and friendly. Dr. Norman was a great scholar. I always think it would be great if I know a small part of what he knew. After I started to teach at Princeton University, Dr. Norman kept close contact with me to help my dissertation. He gave me strong influences in many ways. I will miss Dr. Norman a lot. My deepest condolences to Chen Laoshi and the family.

Beeimen and I first met in January 1971. Since then, forty-one years have elapsed; and during that time our lives have been linked in innumerable ways both personal and intellectual, to a degree that often seemed to both of us almost uncanny. Now fate has ordained that we must part, and for me the path ahead appears cold and desolate. But perhaps it will still be brightened in some small measure by the memories that will live on as long I have life. Vechnaya pamyat'.

Nanlin

I was out of the country when Jerry passed away and learned only today of this sad occasion. I was not a specialist on China or linguistics, but in the world of Asian Studies at the University of Washington, I quickly came to admire Jerry for his quiet, friendly and engaging approach to his colleagues and his students. He wore his learning lightly--a model that many of his
students inculcated and that we all might do well to copy. I extend albeit belately my condolences to Stella and Jerry's wider family, and share in the grief of a wide world of friends, who may also draw comfort from having had the privilege of knowing Jerry, even for a short while.