Dr. Jacob ("Jake") Caflisch, III, Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Linguistics and Slavic Studies, age 78, passed away on Sunday, June 25, 2017, surrounded by family. From his birth on December 7, 1938, in Union City, PA, to his death on Sunday, he touched all around him. Indeed, Jake was born a teacher, which ran in his family. His love for the Humanities was seen in his membership in the FL West Coast Symphony, where he played three instruments: oboe, clarinet (second chair), and English horn. He continued his love for the Humanities at Duke University where he was a medical illustrator. After Duke, he returned to where he was raised, Sarasota, FL, to attend Manatee Junior College. There, he met Sophia (his wife of 53 years). His love for languages developed, and he transferred to Florida Southern University, majored in English and minored in religion. He continued his education at Indiana University, earning his Ph.D. in Linguistics. From there, he taught English at Edinboro University, PA, then moved to FL where he taught at the University of South Florida. He was, in fact, one of the founding members of the Linguistics department. Although his specialty of over 38 years was Slavic linguistics, he taught numerous courses, even learning Mandarin. He also attended Middlebury Language Institute for Russian in Putney, VT. In all, he was fluent in ten languages and was a published scholar of countless articles and one book, Issues in Russian Linguistics. In addition, Noam Chomsky, his main mentor, and Jake corresponded regularly concerning linguistic topics. Moreover, like kids do today who bring their cell phones to the table during dinner, Jake would always bring books to the table. In fact, he always had a book in hand. Finally, he was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and brother. He is survived by his wife, Sophia, his three children, Jacob Jr. (Margarida), Yvonne (Kurt), and Kim, his grandson, Dylan, his brother, William Sr. (Sheila), his nieces, Sophia, Chelly, Frances, Sheila, and his nephews, Andrzej, Kazimierz, William, Jr., and Andrew. Graveside services will be held on July 8, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. with the viewing on July 7 at 6-8 p.m. at Serenity Meadows Memorial Park, 6919 Providence Road, Riverview, FL. In lieu of flowers, a gofundme account (under the name Dr. Jacob Caflisch) has been created. This direct link is gofundme.com/3yww3yw.