Fernando González Ollé, Full Professor emeritus of the University of Navarra, passes away.
Corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), he was the driving force and first director the Institute of Spanish language and Culture (ILCE).
18 | 05 | 2025
Fernando González Ollé (Madrid, 1929), Full Professor emeritus of the School of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Navarra, died today, May 18, in Pamplona, at the age of 96. A teacher of philologists and linguists for four decades, he devoted more than 60 years to research in the field of Hispanic Philology , even after his retirement in 2000.
Professor González Ollé began his academic career as a teaching assistant professor of Historical Grammar at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he graduated and received his doctorate with an Extraordinary award . He also obtained the award Nacional Fin de degree program in 1951. He was also a diploma holder at the International Institute of Bibliography in Boston (USA).
In 1955, he joined the faculty of the University of Navarra, encouraged by the first President, Ismael Sánchez Bella. González Ollé himself recalled that meeting and his beginnings at the then Estudio General de Navarra, in an interview granted in 2022. At the academic center, where he was Full Professor of History of language, he promoted and directed the Institute of Spanish language and Culture (ILCE). In 1966, he obtained the Chair of General Linguistics and Literary Criticism at the University of Murcia, and in 1970, the Chair of History of Spanish language at the University of Granada.
Professor González Ollé combined his professor and research work with the performance of various positions: since 1985, he was a corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), and since 1990, corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Historical Sciences of Toledo. He was also an honorary member of the association of Professors of Spanish, a founding member of the association of History of the Spanish language , and a member of the committee advisor of the journal Historia de la language Española.
Author of more than 200 publications on linguistics and Philology, his works include Lingüística general y crítica literaria; Texto para el estudio del español coloquial. Introduction and selection; Historia de la language española; Introducción a la historia literaria de Navarra; or La Real Academia Española en su primer siglo, among others. His career was recognized on numerous occasions: he received the Menéndez Pelayo award for research from the CSIC (1959); the Rivadeneira award for research from the Real Academia Española (1960 and 1963), and the Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X Sabio (1999).
Julia Pavón, dean of the School of Philosophy and Letters, stressed that the career of Professor González Ollé "reveals a deep philological vocation reflected in his abundant production on the history of Spanish language and in the training a broad school of linguists. He also highlighted "his erudition, the result of his passion for a work well done, which combined a certain shyness in his relationship with his colleagues, creating a unique academic personality".
For his part, Manuel Casado, Full Professor emeritus of the University of Navarra, colleague and friend of Professor González Ollé, thanked "his demanding and generous guide whenever we had recourse to his committee or guidance". On the other hand, he highlighted the prestige he enjoyed in his field of study, Hispanic Philology : "He was well known and respected, and much cited, for his extensive scientific production on the history of Spanish language and his work on literary history.
