William "Bill" Labov, 1979 LSA President

Bill Labov passed away on December 17, 2024, at 97 with his wife Gillian by his side. He will be remembered for generations to come as a trailblazing linguist, mentor to many, and beloved family member. He is survived by a large and devoted immediate family: his wife, linguist Gillian Sankoff; his seven children, Susannah (Greg) Page, Sarah Labov, Simon (Franny) Labov, Joanna Labov, Jessie (Gyorgy) Labov, Alice (Josh) Goffman, and Rebecca (Ray) Labov; and nine grandchildren, Victoria, Lille, Jamie, Cory, Lee, Dani, Auden, Fiona and Edison.

In remembrance of Bill and in lieu of flowers, the family requests that any charitable donations be made to the Parkinson's Foundation.

A public memorial event for those who wish to honor and celebrate Bill was held at the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia on January 9th, 2025. His pioneering studies of language change in progress located the vernacular and its speakers at the center of sociolinguistic research, and helped to break down what Kiparsky has called the "firewall" between synchronic and diachronic linguistics. Bill's kindness, generosity, and brilliance have been a profound source of inspiration for generations of linguists, including the many students he trained and sent on to stellar careers of their own. His decades-long presence and enormous positive influence on our field will continue to resonate for a long time to come.

A video recording of the Memorial for Bill Labov,  which was held during the 2025 LSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, will be made available on the LSA website in the coming weeks.

More information:

• Read the full obituary of William "Bill" Labov (1927–2024) here
• Read the New York Times remembrance
• Read the Philadelphia Inquirer remembrance