
With the recent passing of Konrad Koerner on 6 January 2022, we offer here as a tribute to his life and work some excerpts from a previously unreleased biographical interview, recorded on 2 January 2019 at his apartment in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin.
In the two excerpts selected here he describes first how he established his publishing relationship with John Benjamins of Amsterdam and then how he came to organise the first ICHoLS conference in Ottawa in 1978.
Thanks for this interview — I knew Konrad well and have visited him several times in his apartment, last time in November 2021. He appeared very frail then. I am sad that he is not with us anymore.
I am deeply saddened by the passing-away of Prof Konrad Koerner. I worked as his editorial assistant for roughly two years while I was studying at University of Ottawa. We got along very well at that time and kept contact thereafter. I got occasional emails from him in recent years but never expected that he would leave us in such a sudden way. He was a kind man, apart from being an excellent scholar.