Harm Pinkster was a world leading expert in the study of Latin Linguistics and professor emeritus of Latin at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands.          

Beyond his scholarly work, he was author and editor of the Latin-Dutch dictionary which is widely used in high school curricula.

Harm was born in Emmen, the Netherlands, on 5 March 1942. He finished the Gymnasium (A and B) in 1960, studied Classics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (1960-7), where he also obtained the doctorate in 1971. He has two daughters: Fenne Pinkster, born 7 May 1976, and Akke Pinkster, born 2 July 1978.

After his retirement in 2004, he remained an active member of the Classics community and worked on his magnum opus, a new Oxford Latin Syntax.

Harm was Member of the Academia Europaea (1989), Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (2004), Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (2008), Member of the Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (1988), and Erelid of the Vereniging Classici Nederland (2009).

He held an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Chicago (2006) and a doctorado honoris causa from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2017).

On October 8, 2021, he was knighted as 'Ridder in de orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw' for his academic achievements and his contribution to the broader academic community and society. 

Harm passed away on December 14, 2021, at the age of 79.

In memoriam: