Stanislav Segert, 84; Author, UCLA Professor

Stanislav Segert, emeritus professor of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and a 36-year resident of Pacific Palisades, died at Kaiser Permanente Hospital on September 30 of complications following surgery for a head injury sustained in a fall at his home. He was 84. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on May 4, 1921 to Anton’n and Marie (Zvolsk’) Segert, he earned his doctorate at Charles University in Prague in 1947. His Czech publications included a book on the Dead Sea Scrolls and several translations of biblical poetry into Czech in cooperation with later Nobel Prize-winner Jaroslav Seifert and other Czech poets. Segert taught biblical Hebrew and other languages of the ancient Middle East at UCLA from 1969 until his retirement in 1991. Among his scholarly works were grammars of Ugaritic, Phoenician, and ancient Aramaic and hundreds of articles and reviews. He was a pioneer in the use of computers to analyze ancient languages and the Bible. He held visiting appointments at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University before coming to UCLA. He later taught at the University of Beersheba, Israel and the University of Muenster, Germany during sabbaticals. His research and scholarly conferences led him to travel widely in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. After his retirement, Segert continued to publish. Several of his biblical translations were re-published in the Czech Republic in recent years, and he received an award from Charles University for his scholarly accomplishments. Although in the past two years his health prevented him from venturing far, Segert’s favorite activities were walking and hiking in the Palisades and in the Santa Monica Mountains and listening to classical music. He was devoted to his family and to his students, and respected both by his students and his colleagues. He will be missed. Survivors include his wife, Jarmila (Aba) Segert, to whom he had been married for 48 years; his sister, Jaroslava, of Prague; daughter Eva (husband Mark) of Morgantown, West Virginia; son Jan (wife Ines) of Columbia, Missouri; and grandchildren Naomi, Simon, Nathan, Julian and Eliana. At his request, funeral services will be private.