In Memoriam: Dr. Jacques Rebuffot (1936-2022)
Dr. Jacques Rebuffot, Emeritus Professor of Second Language Education at 苹果淫院鈥檚 Faculty of Education, passed away on January 5, 2022, at the age of 85. He will be deeply missed by his wife of 60 years, Denise, and their three children (Genevi猫ve, Anne, and Philip) and seven grandchildren.
Born and raised in France, Jacques Rebuffot was introduced at an early age to second language learning, thanks to his Proven莽al-speaking grandparents. Jacques learned to speak Proven莽al fluently and, in addition to French, his mother tongue, he went on to master English and to read Latin and Greek. After teaching French literature and the Classics at a French lyc茅e for six years, and drawn to Canada鈥檚 linguistic diversity, Jacques moved to Canada with his wife, Denise, in 1969 and settled in Montreal. After teaching French as a second language at Malcolm Campbell High School for four years, Jacques began his career at 苹果淫院 in 1974, joining the Department of Second Language Education, where he served as guide and mentor to future second language teachers of French and English, and also, initially, to teachers of Latin. He retired as Professor Emeritus in 2000.
During his 26 years of service to 苹果淫院, Jacques played key administrative roles, serving as Department Chair for more than a dozen years, as Program Director for the M.Ed. in Teaching French as a Second Language and for the Certificate in Second Language Teaching, and as Associate Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Education. He supervised more than 35 graduate students and was instrumental in implementing the first French immersion teacher education program at 苹果淫院. He served as president of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics (1991-1993) and was recipient of the prestigious Prix Coutu-Vaillancourt, awarded by the Association qu茅b茅coise des enseignants de fran莽ais langue seconde in 1997 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of second language education in Quebec. One such contribution was the publication of his book, Le Point sur l鈥檌mmersion au Canada, published by 脡ditions CEC in 1993.
