College mourns the passing of Pierre Francois, emeritus professor of French

It is with sadness that the College shares the news of the passing of Pierre Francois, emeritus professor of French, on July 9, 2016.

Francois joined the SUNY New Paltz faculty in 1966. A strong advocate for international study, he helped launch New Paltz’s first overseas academic programs in Europe, Singapore and Nigeria and led many student trips abroad over the course of his three-decade career.

Francois taught many sessions for the former Language Immersion Institute on campus and at Mohonk Mountain House and authored 26 French language textbooks. He helped facilitate the growth of the former Division of Romance Languages into the Department of Foreign Languages (now the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures).

Francois was born in Nancy, France, and studied at the Lycée Poincaré and the Universities of Nancy and Dijon. On an early trip to the United States he discovered a passion for teaching French to high school students. He went on to earn his M.A. at Fordham University and his Ph.D. at Columbia in French literature and language, and taught at Fordham and the Brearley School in Manhattan before coming to SUNY New Paltz.

A funeral Mass was held in Francois’s honor on Monday, July 11, at St. John’s Church in Woodstock.