French Prof. Alphonse Juilland, a world renowned linguist, track star and former head of the French and Italian Department at Stanford, died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage at his campus home on June 30. He was 77 years old.
    Katarina Kivel, who worked for Juilland as his administrative assistant in the Department of French and Italian and then as managing editor of the scholarly journals he founded, said, "I will always remember Prof. Juilland as a warm and charismatic humanist, a creative and diplomatic leader, as well as a distinguished professor who made many contributions to promote French culture in the United States."
    According to Kivel, "his passion for writing was only equally matched by his passionate pursuit of athletic excellence."
    Born in Bucharest and raised in Switzerland, Juilland graduated magna cum laude from the University of Bucharest in 1945 and studied in Paris, where he earned his doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1951.
    He taught at several U.S. universities before his appointment to Stanford as the William Bonsall Professor of French, Emeritus. He died on June 30 after years of innovative contributions to both the academic world and the Stanford campus.
    Juilland also wrote more than a dozen books on linguistics, ranging from studies of French to a Gypsy dictionary. He also wrote several books about the contributions to the French language of 20th century French novelist Louis-Ferdinand Céline.
    At Stanford, he was the founding editor of the Stanford French Review, Stanford Italian Review and Stanford Literature Review. He also created a publishing house called Anma Libri, which published scholarly works.
    Twice in 1975 and once again in 1988 he was decorated by the French government, first with the award Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques and later with the award Officer dans l'Order des Palmes Academiques for his contributions to French culture and French education in the United States.
    Juilland was not only influential on campus as a scholar, but also as a political conservative. He provided a counterpoint to the prevailing liberal point of view on the Stanford campus during the turbulent 1970s.
    He founded the Stanford Conservative Forum and brought noted conservative thinkers to the campus, among them William F. Buckley Jr. and Ernest Van den Haag.
    In 1983, he almost single-handedly organized a petition drive, persuading 131 faculty to protest a proposed University committee to reassess the University's relationship with the Hoover Institution.
    He contended that the investigation would include studying alleged political partisanship and therefore was a "grave threat to academic freedom."
    He told a campus newspaper in 1985 that he expected universities to have more liberals than conservatives because "intellectuals place a heavy premium on reason. As children of the Enlightenment, liberals believe they stand on fact and reason; conservatives know they ultimately stand on faith."
    Juilland also published his conservative philosophy in the National Review.
    According to Margaret Tompkins, a staff member in the French Department, Juilland was also "a Renaissance man who had many interests, including track and field."
    During the 1960s and 1970s, he competed in masters track and field events and held world records for men 50 years of age and older in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. According to family members, he had recently accepted a challenge to race a former student.
    Both Sports Illustrated and Sport Magazine wrote about his track and field career.
    After his retirement from teaching in 1989, he wrote several books about track and field including "Track and Field on Trial" and "The Future of Track and Field."
    Before his death, he was working on a large book, "Track and Field for the Millennium," which questioned many of the basic assumptions about track and field.
    Juilland is survived by his daughter, Marie-Jeanne Juilland-Johnson of Redwood City; two brothers, Jean of Laguna Niguel and Paul Lima, Peru; and five nieces and nephews.