Irmengard Rauch Carr

Irmengard Rauch Carr was born in Dayton, Ohio on April 17, 1933 to Konrad Rauch and Elizabeth (Knott), immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. She grew up speaking German at home along with her brothers Connie and Joe, and her sister Anne. Irmengard attended Catholic schools in Dayton before matriculating at the University of Dayton. She went on to obtain a masters in Germanic Languages from Ohio State, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. A trailblazing woman in academia, she took her first position in 1962 at the University of Wisconsin, teaching German Linguistics. While at Madison, she met the love of her life, Gerald Carr. Three years her senior, after having served in the Marines, Gerald was pursuing a Ph.D. in the German Department at Wisconsin, and was her student. They were married on June 10, 1965, and in 1966 they relocated to Pittsburgh, where Irmengard taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Gerald taught at Duquesne University. Irmengard was a true feminist who never gave up her maiden name - a strong German woman. In 1967 they welcomed their first son Chris into the world. The family moved to central Illinois in 1968, where Irmengard taught at the University of Illinois and Gerald at Eastern Illinois University, settling in the small farm town of Villa Grove, about equidistant between the two institutions. In 1969 their second son, Greg, was born. In 1984 the family permanently relocated to northern California, residing in Benicia, so that Irmengard could accept a position at U.C. Berkeley. Irmengard spearheaded the Germanic Linguistics program there until her retirement in 2021. Throughout her long academic career, Irmengard regularly collaborated with Gerald, who served as a co-editor on many of her scholarly works including books, journals, conference proceedings, and other publications. Irmengard and Gerald were a team, and Gerald was the man behind the woman. While at Berkeley, Irmengard and long-time colleague Thomas Shannon propelled theirs into one of the leading Germanic Linguistics program in the world, instructing and directing the dissertations of countless Ph.D. students, as well as teaching undergraduate courses. She published in scores of scholarly journals, convened conferences, and edited and authored several books on Germanic Linguistics. In addition to Germanic Linguistics, she also taught, published widely, and convened conferences on Semiotics – the study of signs and symbols and their use and interpretation. Late in her career, she turned her focus to Zoosemiotics, the semiotic study of the use of signs among animals and in cross-species communication. Her commitment to semiotics mirrored Irmengard’s voracious intellectual curiosity. She was able to harmonize the data-driven analytical rigor of historical linguistics with the capaciousness and indeterminacy of semiotics. Irmengard could toggle between the particular and the general, and the concrete and the abstract, in the never-finished search for the universal and transcendent. While ever the empiricist, this facility was also a reflection of her deep Catholic faith. Irmengard Rauch Carr died peacefully on the morning of January 9, 2025. At her side was her longtime caregiver Siosi who remarked the day before Irmi passed away that “She is one tough cookie all the way around, I’m not gonna lie.” Irmengard left the world in her house, on her own terms. Irmengard was preceded in death by her husband Gerald (October 21, 2024), and her brothers Conrad and Joseph. She is survived by son Chris and wife Karen, and their sons Justin and Ethan; son Greg and wife Mary; and sister Anne. In lieu of flowers, donations can be directed to: Kaiser Vallejo Hospice 975 Sereno Drive Bayview North Building Suite 1112 Vallejo, CA 94589

Irmengard Rauch Carr

April 17, 1933 - January 9, 2025