A memorial service for Professor Ronald V. Harrington, who taught languages and linguistics at the University of Rochester, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, in the Interfaith Chapel.
A Brighton resident, Harrington died December 29 after a long battle with cancer. He taught at the University from 1964 until 1990, when he retired. He served on many college and university committees, and was for a time chair of the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.
He also volunteered with many agencies in the Rochester area, including the Finger Lakes Equal Justice Association, the Eastern Service Workers, the Russian Resettlement Program of the Jewish Family Service, and Linkages.
After service with the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea from 1946 to 1949, Harrington studied zoology and languages at Cornell University. After graduating in 1952, he worked with the National Security Agency. After eight years there, he entered Harvard and completed a doctorate in Slavic languages in 1964.
He is survived by his wife, Judith; his sons, Philip and Joel; his daughter, Susan; four grandchildren; a sister, Edith; and three brothers, Walter, Albert, and Herbert.
Contributions in his memory can be made to the Greater Rochester Home Care Association Hospice Unit at 49 Stone Street, Rochester, NY, 14604.
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