In April 2024, the family of Eglė and Romualdas Danielius established a subfund of €140,000 in the name of Professor Jonas Kazlauskas (1930–1970), from which the returns on investments are used to establish named scholarships, awards, and support other initiatives at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University in the future.

Justinas Noreika, Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, Eglė Danielienė, Romualdas Danielius, Artūras Vasiliauskas

Professor Jonas Kazlauskas, a habilitated doctor, was one of the most prominent specialists in Baltic linguistics of the 20th century and was the de facto leader of post-war Balticists. The family of patrons is closely related to the VU professor: the renowned ophthalmologist Eglė (Kazlauskaitė) Danielienė is the daughter of Prof. J. Kazlauskas.

From 1949 to 1954, Prof. J. Kazlauskas studied Lithuanian language and literature at Vilnius University. From 1958 to 1970, he worked as a university lecturer, becoming an associate professor in 1962. In 1968, he defended his doctoral dissertation in philological sciences. From 1968 to 1970, Prof. J. Kazlauskas was the dean of the Faculty of History and Philology at VU, and from 1969, a professor.

Through the efforts of Prof. J. Kazlauskas, the journal of Baltic linguistics “Baltistica” was established in 1965, soon gaining international recognition (he was the editor-in-chief from 1965 to 1970). At the professor’s initiative, international conferences of Balticists were held in Vilnius in 1964 and 1970, which later became traditional and alternated between Vilnius and Riga from 1980 onwards. In 1970, Prof. J. Kazlauskas was invited to teach a course in Baltic linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. Unfortunately, he disappeared on October 8 of that year. His body was found in the Neris River on November 17. The professor’s death remains a mystery to this day – all documents from the KGB archives have disappeared. Prof. Kazlauskas was buried on November 20, 1970, at Saulės Cemetery in Vilnius.

“Jonas Kazlauskas was born for the science of language; he could spend days and weeks, as I see it, examining some insignificant fact of dialect or ancient writings, turning it over in various ways, withdrawing, forgetting it, and returning to it with new hypotheses and new passion,” once said the poet Justinas Marcinkevičius.

The innovative works on the history of Baltic languages by Prof. J. Kazlauskas are still cited today. The municipality of Birštonas (the professor was born and raised in Matiešionys near Birštonas) has established a prize in his name, awarded for significant research in Baltic linguistics.

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You can also donate via a bank transfer:

IBAN → LT55 7300 0101 8484 1975 (Swedbank)
Payment purpose → Donation to Prof. Piskarskas Sub-fund
Recipient → Paramos fondas Vilniaus universiteto fondas (company code 304222713)

For contribution contracts over 100 thousand euros notarization is required. Vilnius University Foundation will take care of it. Contact us in a convenient way.