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Paul Schachter Obituary
May 22, 1929 - November 26, 2012
Born in Brooklyn NY to Etta and Harry Schachter, Paul Morris Schachter passed away quietly in his sleep in Westwood, California at the age of 83. A graduate of Columbia University, Paul went on to receive his Ph.d. from UCLA in linguistics in which department he taught for thirty years. Professor Schachter also served as chair of the department in the mid 1980's, and he was a recipient of The Distinguished Teaching Award in 1975. He was revered by his many colleagues and students for his intellectual rigor, keen wit, and generosity. In addition to his teaching, Professor Schachter was a celebrated scholar whose contributions to the field of linguistics were many and justly acclaimed. Paul will be deeply missed by his extended family including his beloved sister-in-law, Justine, his niece, Linda, his nephews, Peter and David and their families, as well as his stepdaughter, Leslie DeMeire, her children and his many colleagues and friends. He joins his brother Scott, his niece Barbara and his stepdaughter Jana in our thoughts and prayers.
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Memories and Condolences
for Paul Schachter
2 Entries
December 11, 2012
Paul supervised my dissertation research, which I completed in 1972, and following that we were colleagues after I was hired in 1975. I followed him as Department Chair starting in 1980. He was always wise and insightful, yet quiet and concise. One always had the feeling that he was at peace with himself, a quality that many of us would like to share.
Hilda Koopman
December 11, 2012
When I was hired as a young assistant professor at UCLA, Paul was chair of the department. I was in Paris when he called me with an offer of the position. I had just found out I was pregnant with our first daughter, and told him, somewhat embarrassed, that I wanted to delay my appointment. Paul called back about 15 minutes later: he has spoken to the dean, and arranged a wonderful leave policy, which allowed me to move to LA in the best possible circumstances. This was of course typical of Paul, who had a genuinely profound respect for others, and always treated people in the most equitable way possible.
When I had moved to UCLA, and had started teaching, Paul asked me one day if we could use a second car: he had this wonderful brown toyota corolla which was a salvaged car that had been rebuild by a mechanic who had made it into a much better car. When the time came to upgrade to a new car, the garage offered a lousy price for it, and he decided to check first of we would like to buy the car for that price. The brown car, as we would call it, became much loved, and served us faithfully for many many years. It was eventually transferred to a close family friend, who drove it for a couple more years. I suspect the car still drives somewhere in Central America.
I will miss Paul, his beautiful base voice, his intellect and his poise.. how he would always know exactly the right way to handle any situation.
Bit I will always remember him as one of the finest human beings I have ever known.
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