Robert S. Wachal

Robert S. Wachal

Iowa City

Robert S. Wachal, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Iowa, died on February 9, 2025 at Briarwood Health Care Center.

He was born in Omaha on March 13, 1929, the son of Stanley and Marie (Rokusek) Wachal. His surname is a variant of Vaclav or Wenceslaus. He was proud of his Czech heritage. In 1938 the family moved to Fargo, North Dakota, where he graduated from Fargo Central High School and went on to receive a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MA and a Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin. He accepted his first job as assistant professor at Iowa in 1964 and spent his entire career there. Professor Wachal was noted for his research in resolving cases of disputed authorship. His scholarly publications were mostly, in the area of lexicography, English grammar and English usage. He was one of the first scholars to write about using computers in humanities research. He also served as an advisor for the U.S. Government Education Department in Bangkok, Thailand and was Head of the Fulbright English teaching program in Greece where he met his future wife, Jane McCune, who was one of the Fulbright teachers. They married in 1968 and returned to Iowa City.

Following his retirement in 1997 he studied poetry. He published Novembering, Poems from Late in Life. He also compiled the first edition of an abbreviation dictionary, part of the Houghton Mifflin American Heritage series and he published a commissioned work, A Biographical Guide of Czechs and Czech Americans. He wrote a series of columns and essays for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He served on the Iowa City Riverfront Commission, the Iowa City Public Library Board of Trustees, the Iowa City Arts Council and the University of Iowa Museum Advisors. He was an avid reader, traveled extensively and loved to cook. He and his wife gave many gourmet dinner parties. He will be remembered by his friends for his sense of humor and his wit.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Jane McCune.

There will be no formal memorial service, but there will be a gathering at the home of the widow at a later date. A donation to the Iowa City Public Library would make an appropriate and meaningful commemorative gift if you are so inclined.

Online condolences may be shared at www.lensingfuneral.com.