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IN MEMORIAM
MARTIN T. TODARO
Martin T. Todaro, professor of
speech communication, died March 15, 2001. He was born September
26, 1923, in Waco, Texas. His association with The University
of Texas at Austin began in 1940, when he enrolled as a freshman.
He continued his education until 1943, when he was drafted into
the United States Army. He served with distinction in World War
II, taking part in the Normandy invasion and the drive into Germany.
On his release from the army, Dr. Todaro again entered the University,
receiving a BA in history and government in 1947. He earned an MA in 1949.
He later returned to the University, receiving a PhD in linguistics in
1970.
Dr. Todaro had a long and distinguished teaching career. He was appointed
as instructor of speech from 1949 to 1952. He then left teaching for several
years. He served as an instructor of speech at the University of Maryland
from 1956 to 1958. He returned to the University as instructor in the Department
of Speech Communication from 1956 to 1964. He was promoted to assistant
professor in 1964, to associate professor in 1971, and to professor in
1983.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Dr. Todaro held many administrative
and consultative posts both inside and outside the University. He was a
hands-on director of the University Forensics Program from 1958 to 1961.
He was the academic advisor and coordinator, teacher, and program developer
for the University International Office. He was especially interested in
the transition of foreign students into the academic environment of an
English-speaking educational system. He was a consultant in remedial English
to Huston-Tillotson College and to the Texas Education Agency in the areas
of phonetics and linguistics. Dr. Todaro was a member of the national Speech
Communication Association, the Texas Speech Communication Association,
and many departmental and University committees. Because of his special
commitment to the graduate program, he served twice as graduate advisor
in the Department of Speech Communication. He also served as secretary
of the graduate faculty.
Dr. Todaro published many articles on phonetics and linguistics, and one
book, The Phonetic Alphabet, 1971, which appeared in three editions.
This work is still used as a text at many colleges and universities throughout
the United States. He also wrote and produced a three-volume series of
instructional videotapes, The Written Representation of Speech Communication:
An Introduction to Notation and Transcription.
Dr. Todaro was in many ways a Renaissance man. He had a love of the English
language and an interest in words, their origins, articulation, and employment.
He was a voluminous reader and loved the arts, especially the writings
of Shakespeare. He greatly enjoyed drama, particularly the opera. His trips
to New York took him to his mecca, The Metropolitan Opera, where he would
attend as many performances as possible. Teaching, music, the arts, and
reading defined this distinguished colleague and his world.
Upon his retirement in 1985, Professor Todaro was recognized, along with
a longtime teaching colleague, Jesse J. Villarreal, by the establishment
of an endowed student scholarship in the Department of Speech Communication.
The endowment ensured that there would be continued assistance for students
long after he was gone. An excerpt from his letter of retirement in 1985
was a quote from William Shakespeare's King Lear, and may be said
to be his chosen epitaph:
...tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburden'd crawl toward death.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner,
President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared by a special committee consisting
of Mr. Robert Risher (chair), and Professors Mark L. Knapp and Thomas Marquardt.
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