Remarks for the Kanellakis-Otoya Memorial Service


			Eugene Charniak
	Department of Computer Science, Brown University



The deaths of Paris Kanellakis, Maria-Teresa Otoya, and their two
children have left a void in the entire Brown community.  We in
Computer Science mourn a distinguished colleague and a good friend.

Paris Kanellakis's research area was the theory of computer science.
His contributions were unique both in the breadth of his interests and
in his ability to carve out research programs in which his keen
mathematical insight could be put at the service of practical issues.
Broadly put, Paris was interested in how the formal language in which
a problem is expressed affects the class of problems one can use it to
attack.  Most of us who have written programs feel intuitively that
some problems are easier to express in one language than another.
Paris worked at a more fundamental level: the languages he explored
were deliberately kept simple (to make mathematical analysis possible)
and the choice of language may decide not just ease of expression
but whether or not a problem can be expressed at all and whether a
problem so expressed can be solved efficiently.  For example, some
of Paris's most important papers showed that language features
previously thought unexceptionable in fact contain pitfalls that
require careful negotiation.  His outstanding body of work made Paris
a leader in theoretical computer science, particularly among those
with a taste for practice.

Paris was interested in ideas, and he was interested in people --- a
combination that is a prerequisite for effective teaching.  A few days
ago, just after students got back for the start of second semester,
there was a get-together for students of Paris to talk about him and
how his death affected them.  I was struck by the number of
undergraduates he had influenced.  Many of them recounted incidents
when, after meeting him in the hall, he invited them to come to his
office so he could explain again some point they had not understood in
that day's lecture.  They spoke of having taken, or being about to
take, Computer Science 152, Paris' senior-level undergraduate course.
This course is quite abstract, and is not one that will get you a
higher-paying job.  They said that they were taking it because Paris
was teaching it, and because of the enthusiasm he instilled for the
material it covered.

He put his great energy and commitment at the service of our
department and the university as well.	He assumed many tasks for the
department and performed them with skill, devotion and good spirits.
But occasionally this caused small problems.  For many years now the
department has operated in two time zones, regular time and Kanellakis
time, which uniformly ran about twelve minutes behind.  Paris, it
seemed, always wanted to get one more thing done before his next
meeting.  Thus it was my practice at faculty meetings to schedule
those items in which Paris had a large role later in the meeting.  But
he tended to be involved in everything, so often there was nothing to
do at the beginning.

He had great insight into human nature and fierce honesty; he loved a
good story about a collegue's foibles, and had the clear vision to
recognize his own.  He was one of the people always consulted on
tricky departmental issues because we respected his opinions and
valued his insights.  He also had a fine sense of humor, a wonderfully
wholehearted laugh and an outgoing, energy-filled personality that
drew everyone to him.	He turned 42 just two weeks before his death.
His accomplishments were immense even in the time he had, and we
grieve for the loss of what he would have accomplished had he had
more.  We console ourselves with the years that he, and we, did have.