The EUROCALL 2014 organisers and participants were greatly saddened by the loss of EUROCALL participant, Dr. Kenji Kitao, who passed away suddenly of a heart attack at his hotel on the evening of Wednesday, August 20th.

Dr. Kenji Kitao had an appointment as a full professor, at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan.  He was 65 and about to retire this coming March. Dr. Kitao was a dedicated EUROCALL member.

Dr Kenji Kitao and his wife, Dr. Kathleen Kitao, were planning to present at EUROCALL 2014. They submitted the following papers:
Responses to Apologies in English: A Corpus-Based Study
Japanese Speakers’ Apologies in English: A Study Based on a Spoken Corpus

Our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Kitao’s wife, Kathleen Kitao, family and friends. We would like to wish them strength during this difficult time.