Poetic Obituaries: Trilingual by dint of birth, Ihor Sevcenko

grew up in a Ukrainian family that lived in Poland at a time when Russian was often the language of necessity. To his native Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian, he added fluency in many other Slavic and Western languages in their ancient, medieval, and modern forms while establishing himself as an international scholar of Byzantine literature and history.

"He was one of the most eminent Byzantinists of the past 50 years anywhere in the world," said John Duffy, who chairs the classics department at Harvard University.

from The Boston Globe: Ihor Sevcenko, 87; professor, scholar of Byzantine era

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