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Jack Godfrey, 78, passed away at his home in Broussard, LA on Thursday August 27, 2020. Caring, generous, and honest, with an insatiable thirst for knowledge is an understated description of Jack Godfrey, as anyone who knew him will attest. He was born John Joseph Godfrey in Queens, NY on December 19, 1941. He attended Georgetown University where he earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics. He completed his post-doctorate work at Wright-Patterson Airforce Base in Dayton, OH where he met Nina, who would become his beloved wife of 44 years. Jack worked at the Center for Language and Speech Processing at The Johns Hopkins University, the US Dpt of Defense, U.of Pennsylvania, Texas Instruments, and U. of Texas.He did research in Psycholinguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Computational Linguistics, and Speech Recognition. He made significant contributions from TI's 'Speak and Spell' to his leadership of the US Department of Defense's Human Language Technology Group at the National Security Agency. He is survived by his wife, Nina Suru Godfrey of Broussard, La, his sons, Brian Godfrey of Pottsboro, TX, Eliot Godfrey of Broussard, LA; and Paul Godfrey and his wife, Stephanie, with granddaughters Eliza, Suru, and June Godfrey of Charlotte, NC. Jack was a man filled with energy, drive, and commitment to accomplishment, a true 'Man for Others.' He showed this every day of his private life, how he was involved in the community, and how he treated every person he met. He had a passion for travel, which brought him many memorable adventures with Nina around the world. He was an avid and accomplished fisherman who spent countless days on the water with his sons and closest friends, where he was truly happy. Speech Community misses a highly appreciated researcher who inspired many scientists. |