George Alexander Kennedy, was an American sinologist known for his studies of classical Chinese and the teaching of Chinese to students.
Background
George Kennedy was born on 17 May 1901 in Moganshan, Zhejiang Province, China, where his parents Alexander and Ada Kennedy were serving as Protestant missionaries. Although his family spoke English at home, Kennedy grew up speaking the local Chinese dialect, a form of Wu Chinese, and often said that Chinese was his native language.
Education
Graduate Shanghai American School 1917. Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude, College of Wooster, 1922. Student Western Theological Seminary, 1923-1924.
Union Theological Seminary, 1924-1925, Columbia University, 1925-1926.
Doctor of Philisophy, University of Berlin, 1937.
Career
He returned to China in 1926 and taught English and Chinese in Shanghai. In 1932, Kennedy went to the University of Berlin, where he studied Chinese and Mongolian under Otto Franke and Erich Haenisch. In 1937, Kennedy completed his Doctor of Philosophy with dissertation on the role of confession in Chinese law.
He had previously returned to the United States and worked in the Orientalia department of the Library of Congress under Arthur West. Hummel, Senior, writing 72 entries in Hummel"s biographical dictionary, In 1936 he began teaching Chinese at Yale University.
He was made an assistant professor in 1937, an associate professor in 1943, and full professor in 1954, the rank he held upon his sudden death in 1960. During World World War II, Kennedy served as the director of the Army Specialized Training Program at Yale from 1942 to 1944.
In early August 1960, Kennedy planned to return to the United States, and boarded a ship in Yokohama, Japan bound for San Francisco. During the voyage, Kennedy, who had not been feeling well but had not sought medical attention, died of a heart attack.
An autopsy revealed he had a number of large tumors in his body, but had chosen not to have any cancer treatments.
Kennedy was the principal author of the Yale Romanization of Mandarin.
Achievements
Membership
Member American Oriental Society, Far Eastern Association, Linguistic Society of America.
Connections
Married Marion Galehouse, October 5, 1925 (divorced 1933). Married second, Jean Wilson, October 22, 1934.