Memorial services will be held at the Washington Hebrew Congregation on Dec. 7 for Dr. Lawrence Marwick, former head of the Hebraic section of the Library of Congress and an eminent author, teacher and linguist who died Oct. 17 at the age of 72.
During his 30-year association with the Library of Congress, Marwick assisted in the acquisition of the largest collection of Hebraica, Judaica and Semitica ever assembled under U.S. government auspices. The Library’s Hebraic section contains some 120,000 volumes in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopic and other Semitic languages as well as Yiddish and Ladino. There are an additional 400,000 volumes on Semitic, Hebraic and Judaic subjects in Western languages.
Marwick, who was honorary consultant to the Library in Hebraic bibliography, was fluent in Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew and other Semitic tongues and in Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish. He was the Library of Congress’ representative to many international meetings over a period of three decades.
While working full time for the Library, he also served for 17 years as adjunct professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning in Philadelphia and taught courses in Semitic languages and Israeli literature at New York University.
He was the author of “Diplomatic Hebrew,” the first book of its kind, published by the Library of Congress last year. His other books include “A Handbook of Diplomatic Hebrew; Biblical and Judaic Acronyms.”
Dr. Marwick was born in Poland and came to the United States in 1928. He received his Bachelor and Masters degrees from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from Dropsie College.
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