Michael E. Krauss

Posted: August 2019

The LSA reports with regret the August 11, 2019 death of Michael E. Krauss (University of Alaska Fairbanks, Emeritus), a Life Member of the LSA, and a member since 1961. 

Krauss is widely credited with having drawn the attention of the linguistics community to the global problem of endangered languges in a talk on "The Reality of Endangered Languages" presented as part of a session on Endangered Languages and Their Preservation organized by Ken Hale at the LSA's 1991 Annual Meeting in Chicago.  He was founding Chair of the LSA's Committee on Endangered Languages and Their Preservation, and directed the Alaska Native Language Center from its founding in 1972 until his retirment in 2000.