Professor Donald Gene Frantz, Don to his friends, family, and colleagues, passed away at the age of 87 on September 20, 2021.

Don’s principal contributions to linguistics were in the field of Algonquian Studies, in particular through his lifelong work on the Blackfoot language. He also worked on other languages, including Cheyenne and Southern Tiwa.

Don laid the groundwork upon which those of us who work on Blackfoot build our efforts. His dissertation, published by SIL in 1971, became the foundation for the first and to date only modern grammar of the language, first published in 1991 with updated editions in 2009 and 2017. His lexicographic work resulted in the publication, with Blackfoot co-author Norma Russell, of the Blackfoot Dictionary of stems, roots and affixes, also in three editions, 1989, 1995 and 2017. Don donated his lexicographic database to serve as the initial building blocks for the Blackfoot Digital Dictionary (https://dictionary.blackfoot.algonquianlanguages.ca/.)

Don was originally from Alameda, California. Before his career as a linguist, he was a member of the Coast Guard. He studied linguistics at Berkeley and was sponsored to do missionary translation work by the Wycliffe’s Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) program in Norman, Oklahoma. After he graduated from Berkeley with a BA in Linguistics in 1960 he was sent to northern Montana and Southern Alberta to work on the Blackfoot language. He moved with his wife Patty and daughter Lisa, first to the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, MT, and later to Siksika, Alberta, where they lived in Gleichen and later in Arrowwood, where sons Tim and Jeff were born in the next few years. He graduated with a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Alberta in 1970.

In addition to his work on the grammar and the dictionary, Don also developed the first formal orthography for Blackfoot. His system was officially adopted by the Canadian schoolboards in 1975, and is still the most commonly used writing system, although others also continue to be used.

Don remained active in bible translation and other missionary projects throughout his life. He was responsible for the production of the Blackfoot version of “The Jesus Film” into Blackfoot.

Don did language consulting work in New Mexico, Eastern Canada, Nigeria, and Cameroon. He also taught language development classes in Alaska and Peru. He regularly spent summers teaching at SIL back in Norman, and then in North Dakota when the program moved there.

Don spent his formal academic career at the University of Lethbridge. In 1977 he was hired to the new department of Native American Studies by Professor Leroy Littlebear. He was promoted to associate professor in 1989 and to full professor in 1990. He officially retired the next year, in 1991, but continued to teach courses in Blackfoot grammar until 2016.

Don was a quiet, unassuming, deeply religious man, who generously supported, advised and encouraged the next generation of Blackfoot linguists. We hope his work lives on in our own.

—Inge Genee, University of Lethbridge