Distinguished Dutch armenologist, Prof. Dr. Joseph Johannes Sicco Weitenberg, died in the Netherlands on April 14 at the age of 69.

It is noteworthy that, even before fully indulging in Armenology, four of the ten insets of Weitenberg’s university dissertation on linguistics were devoted to the Armenian language.    

Subsequently, he shifted his professional research focus to Armenian language studies, which he remained loyal to until the end of his life. 

Weitenberg was the first and last Chair of the Armenian Language Department at the Leiden University.

Many of Joseph Johannes Sicco Weitenberg’s studies and initiatives were the result of his fruitful cooperation with numerous armenologists.  

He was an active participant in the cultural life of the Dutch Armenian community, and, also, the Netherlands’’ clean-fingered analyst of the Armenian fate.

Professor Weitenberg was a specialist in the linguistic realities of the Armenian language.  

After retiring, Prof. Dr. Joseph Johannes Sicco Weitenberg fully devoted himself to his most important mission: his work entitled “History of the Armenian Language,” which, unfortunately, remained unfinished.