Herwig
Herwig Zauchenberger
d. December 14, 2012
Herwig Zauchenberger died peacefully on December 14, 2012 after a long and courageous battle against Parkinson's Disease.
A naturalized U.S. citizen born in Austria, Herwig first came to the States on a student tour while he was studying voice at the Academy of Music in Vienna. He auditioned and was chosen to join a group of forty young Austrians traveling to America to promote good-will between the two countries following the Second World War. They traveled to college campuses throughout the United States performing Austrian folk music and dances. When he arrived in Colorado, he was so impressed with the beauty of the state and particularly of the Boulder campus that he applied for admission, was accepted and awarded a full scholarship. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees in English and American Literature. He then returned to the University of Vienna where he received his first doctoral degree in English and American Literature.
The attraction of America, however, was too strong. In l955 he applied for a grant to study linguistics and philology at Yale University. After completing a second doctorate in Philology and Linguistics, he became an instructor in the German department and an Assistant Dean at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. New Haven was to be his home for the next fourteen years. He met and married his wife, Joanna. Their two sons, Mark and Stefan, were born in New Haven. The family enjoyed living in the Yale community and participating in the cultural life of the city. Herwig was particularly happy to assume the presidency of the New Haven Opera Society.
His career as an administrator progressed with future appointments as Associate Dean of the Graduate School in Claremont California and, finally in l972, as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Missouri Kansas City. The last ten years of his academic life were spent as chairman of the Foreign Language Department from which he retired in l996.
Life in Kansas City for Herwig was gratifying in every way: academically, socially, and culturally. He was a faithful subscriber to the K.C. Symphony and the Lyric Opera. He served for a time on the Lyric Opera Board and lived to experience the opera Turandot at the new and beautiful Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Herwig and Ursula. He leaves to cherish his memory, his wife Joanna of the home, sons, Mark (Kathy) of Leawood and Stefan (Laura) of Lake Quivira, two grandsons Michael and Matthew, of Lake Quivira, twin sister and brother-in-law, Elfie and Kurt Arbeiter of Austria, two nieces, Evelin and Gehrhild of Austria, and a host of friends and colleagues in the Kansas City area.
Herwig will be greatly missed by his family and friends here in America and in Austria.
The family wants to express their appreciation to the doctors and nurses at Menorah Medical Center, the nurses at Gentiva Home Health, and to his caregivers, Della, Sheila, and Tricia, who loved and helped Herwig fight the battle.
Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 7023 W. 71st Street, Overland Park, KS 66204. Visitation will precede Mass at the church at 10:00 a.m. with a luncheon to follow at noon. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation of Kansas City, 8900 State Line Road, Suite 320, Leawood, KS 66207.
A naturalized U.S. citizen born in Austria, Herwig first came to the States on a student tour while he was studying voice at the Academy of Music in Vienna. He auditioned and was chosen to join a group of forty young Austrians traveling to America to promote good-will between the two countries following the Second World War. They traveled to college campuses throughout the United States performing Austrian folk music and dances. When he arrived in Colorado, he was so impressed with the beauty of the state and particularly of the Boulder campus that he applied for admission, was accepted and awarded a full scholarship. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees in English and American Literature. He then returned to the University of Vienna where he received his first doctoral degree in English and American Literature.
The attraction of America, however, was too strong. In l955 he applied for a grant to study linguistics and philology at Yale University. After completing a second doctorate in Philology and Linguistics, he became an instructor in the German department and an Assistant Dean at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. New Haven was to be his home for the next fourteen years. He met and married his wife, Joanna. Their two sons, Mark and Stefan, were born in New Haven. The family enjoyed living in the Yale community and participating in the cultural life of the city. Herwig was particularly happy to assume the presidency of the New Haven Opera Society.
His career as an administrator progressed with future appointments as Associate Dean of the Graduate School in Claremont California and, finally in l972, as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Missouri Kansas City. The last ten years of his academic life were spent as chairman of the Foreign Language Department from which he retired in l996.
Life in Kansas City for Herwig was gratifying in every way: academically, socially, and culturally. He was a faithful subscriber to the K.C. Symphony and the Lyric Opera. He served for a time on the Lyric Opera Board and lived to experience the opera Turandot at the new and beautiful Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Herwig and Ursula. He leaves to cherish his memory, his wife Joanna of the home, sons, Mark (Kathy) of Leawood and Stefan (Laura) of Lake Quivira, two grandsons Michael and Matthew, of Lake Quivira, twin sister and brother-in-law, Elfie and Kurt Arbeiter of Austria, two nieces, Evelin and Gehrhild of Austria, and a host of friends and colleagues in the Kansas City area.
Herwig will be greatly missed by his family and friends here in America and in Austria.
The family wants to express their appreciation to the doctors and nurses at Menorah Medical Center, the nurses at Gentiva Home Health, and to his caregivers, Della, Sheila, and Tricia, who loved and helped Herwig fight the battle.
Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 7023 W. 71st Street, Overland Park, KS 66204. Visitation will precede Mass at the church at 10:00 a.m. with a luncheon to follow at noon. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation of Kansas City, 8900 State Line Road, Suite 320, Leawood, KS 66207.
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