Gosse Bouma

These times have been difficult for our research group since Gosse was such an impressive and fundamental figure for us. I remember when I first arrived to Groningen I was mesmerized by how tall he was; he took the steps sideways down the stairs because his feet were too big. Since then, he was an example to explain to my friends how tall the Dutch really were, especially in the North. He would say, to my admiration, that he cycled to the university from Winsum, 16 km away, every day, return, occasionally taken another means of transport if the weather was really, really impossible.
As the time passed, I was always impressed at how he, in our reading groups, always asked intelligent questions in his quiet and unassuming way that showed his deep knowledge of the field and his reflective nature. Nothing that Gosse said was superfluous or superficial. This has always been an example, albeit sometimes impossible to follow if you were not Gosse.
The times that I worked closer to him in topics related to teaching, for example, he always had a way to solve my apparent problems in a very calm, practical, efficient and intelligent way. He always gave you the best advice, again always in a humble and unassuming way. He was a true gentleman.
Even though Gosse was quiet, he was sociable, always part of all the excursions the group had, he always came in his bike, and he was always happy to participate in all activities, including yoga, or to negotiate with a group of Frisian students to lower the music levels at night.
I do not really have an interest in cycling as a sport, but the Tour de France will always be a special moment to remember Gosse, he always said he much preferred this to any football world cup. Not that we need a special time, Gosse is always present in our corridor, and he will always remain an inspiration to me. 

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our colleague and friend Gosse Bouma.

I first met Gosse at the very first LREC, held in Granada in 1998. Since then, he was an author or co-author of papers at almost every LREC, and a familiar and much-valued presence in our community.
Beyond his scientific contributions, I will particularly remember the friendly atmosphere he always brought with him, his kindness and encouragement, and the genuine warmth with which he congratulated and supported the LREC team. He was always positive and generous.
Gosse will be greatly missed by the LREC community

On behalf of the ELRA team, I extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

Khalid CHOUKRI, ELRA Secretary General 

Herdenkingsbericht bij de fietsclub: tfcwinsum.nl/in-memoriam-gosse-bouma 

Wat een triest bericht en wat een schok, dat Gosse juist bij één van zijn geliefde sporten is overleden.
Wij deelden een enthousiaste liefde voor het schaatsen: Gosse: intensief, ik meer op Gosse's manier: rustig aan. Dat kwam door het verschil in leeftijd.
Wij hebben jarenlang een kamer op dezelfde gang in de faculteit gehad. Daar waren wij rustige vriendelijke collega's, die zich ieder op een heel verschillend vlak met gesproken taal bezig hielden.
Ik wens zijn familie, vrienden, medesporters en collega's sterkte en troost toe bij dit verlies. 

Mijn herinneringen aan Gosse dateren voornamelijk uit het begin van de jaren negentig, toen ik een collega was van Gosse bij (toen nog) Alfa-Informatica aan de RuG. Het was een vakgroep waar van alles samen kwam: databases, geografie, theologie, geschiedenis, linguïstiek, fonetiek, neurale netwerken… en met een uitstekende werksfeer. Ik heb er veel geleerd, van Gosse en van de andere collega's. Bedankt, Gosse!

Ik wens alle familie en bekenden van Gosse veel sterkte toe. 

De eerste ontmoeting was waarschijnlijk COLING Budapest eind jaren '80.

Toen ik een paar weken geleden naar Brussel afreisde voor een kort bezoek aan CLIN hoopte ik daar ook Gosse aan te treffen en een praatje met hem te kunnen maken. Een grapje te kunnen maken en dan zijn aanstekelijke ,hinnikende lach te kunnen horen terwijl hij daar voorovergebogen zou staan om zijn zowat halve meter kortere collega te kunnen horen.

Nu resten alleen nog herinneringen.

Het eerste wat ik van hem las was zijn scriptie over woordvolgorde in het Warlpiri. Ik kan het iedereen aanraden. 

Wat intens verdrietig dat Gosse is overleden. Ik leerde hem kennen toen we beiden onderzoek deden naar Twitter – toen dat nog iets nieuws was. En later bij het opzetten van Digital Humanities in Groningen. Gosse was niet alleen ontzettend aardig en behulpzaam, maar ook zeer genereus. Altijd bereid om te helpen en om mee te denken. Rustig en bedachtzaam, to the point, weinig woorden, maar altijd raak. Ik zal onze gesprekjes bij het koffiezetapparaat op de vierde, ergens op de trappen of in de fietsenkelder zeer missen. Ik wens Gosse’s gezin, familie, vrienden en collega’s ontzettend veel sterkte. 

Gosse had this special gift of making almost everything look easy and doable. During the years I inherited some of his past roles, like being a member of the Cluster Board, and more recently the coordinator of the LCT Erasmus Mundus master programme. Lots of admin work, often frustrating. It's absolutely unimaginable for me how he could be doing those jobs and be so chill and unflappable all the time. But Gosse really was like that: calm, reassuring, composed, not a word or a gesture out of place, like ever, and the most reliable and generous colleague one could dream of. It is thanks to his service and generosity that many others, me included, got the chance to do more of the work they really liked to do.

For my birthday last year we spent some longer-than-usual time chatting while cycling (him) and jogging (me) in northern Groningen. That's when we recalled we both had been at Rufus Wainwright's concert at the Oosterpoort years prior, and we figured that we shared a favourite song: Going to a Town. I will always link this song to you, Gosse, and I will also do my best to reduce the complaints, as you've shown us it's possible to do. Geen Mopperen is my new motto; the dubious grammaticality of it is a reminder that there's nothing common or obvious to it, on the contrary. We'll miss you tons. 

Wat een vreselijk bericht. Ik herinner me Gosse, naast als collega-taalkundige, vooral van het schaatsen op Kardinge waar we elkaar alweer lang geleden regelmatig tegenkwamen. Ik weet niet of hij dat de laatste jaren nog deed, maar het zou me niet verbazen als dat zo was. Veel sterkte aan alle familie en vrienden met dit onverwachte en ongetwijfeld grote verlies. 

Wat een verdrietig bericht was dat, over het plotselinge overlijden van Gosse. In de jaren van 2011 tot 2018 waren wij collega's en werkten wij op dezelfde verdieping van het Harmoniecomplex. Ik heb Gosse toen leren kennen als buitengewoon vriendelijk, bekwaam, en loyaal. Ik had hem heel graag nog vele aangename jare na zijn pensioen gegund. Het doet zeer dat het zo niet heeft mogen zijn. 

Wat een verscrhikkelijk nieuws. Ik herinner me Gosse uit de tijd dat hij in het Clusterbestuur van Cluster 3 zat en heb toen zeer prettig met hem samengewerkt.

Ik wens de nabestaanden sterkte bij dit vreselijk verlies. 

What terrible news! We will miss you so much, Gosse. His office was right across from mine, and it was always nice to drop by for a chat. He was such a kind man, a true listener, and always so active and engaged. Just talking to him made you feel his warmth and friendliness. The office is so different now that he is no longer here :'( 

Wat een vreselijk bericht. Veel sterkte aan familie, vrienden en collega's toegewenst. 

Ik ben geschokt door het nieuws van het overlijden van Gosse. Ik ken hem als collega in de faculteit sinds het midden van de jaren nengentig niet anders dan als een rustige en welwillende man die met enige ironie de zaken beschouwde. Inhoudelijk hadden we niet veel met elkaar te maken, maar dagelijks maakten we vanuit Winsum dezelfde fietstocht naar het Harmonie-gebouw. Natuurlijk was hij veel sneller, maar het creërde een warme band. 

This comes as a heavy blow. In particular reading Geertjan’s contribution made me very sad… 


Gosse was one of the finest people, if not the finest, of ‘our generation’ in the field of Dutch computational linguistics. Kind and giving.

As Geertjan mentions, a pretty large group of young Dutch researchers would run into each other at (E)ACL and COLING, and would later meet at our own CLIN. It was always easy, and fun, to meet up with Gosse, and we always found time to have intensive discussions about our research and our PhD thesis work in particular.

Gosse generously shared his ideas, opinions (“I implemented that last week. That’s heavy stuff.”), and his profound insights into every aspect of computational linguistics. His work, his ideas, hands-on mentality shaped me: Gosse is acknowledged in every single publication of mine starting 1989 up to and including my 1993 thesis. Thank you Gosse. Farewell. 

I have struggled to find the right words since hearing the terrible news of Gosse’s passing.
I will remember Gosse above all for the way he made people feel. When you spoke with him, you felt important. You felt that he was really listening, often with his familiar nods, and that he genuinely cared.
My last vivid memory of him is from 11 September, during our weekly research meeting. I was sitting next to him when, out of nowhere, he searched for Johan’s (a colleague) name in a Hugging Face model and found that it appeared more than 3,000 times. He immediately showed me with a big smile on his face, and we all laughed together.
I like to think that smile is still with you, Gosse. This is how I will remember him on top of his academic and work excellence. He is warm, attentive, curious, and able to bring a moment of lightness to those around him. Gosse, you meant a great deal to me and to the GroNLP group. I will miss you dearly. Rest well. 

I've been terribly sad for the past days...
Gosse has touched many lives, mine too, in a deep way.
Since when I moved to the Netherlands, almost every morning I met Gosse, one of the early birds of the alfa Informatika corridor. Seeing the daily quiet chat he had over coffee with Gertjan is one the things that helped me find stability in this new place. I realize only now how important his silent presence was, but I always noticed and thanked him for the small gestures he did to support me when working together.
Gosse, I will miss you... 

This is the (mostly automated) translation of my contribution at today's service.

I met Gosse in the late eighties. Gosse worked in Stuttgart and also for a while in Maastricht (a good place for a cyclist). At that time, it was at conferences abroad that you ran into colleagues from the Netherlands. Around 1990, we got to know each other a bit better at the ACL in Pittsburgh. That is where the idea arose to hold an annual meeting with peers in the Netherlands: that became the CLIN conference, where Gosse became a regular attendee from then on. At the 2nd CLIN, the one in 1991 in Tilburg, I had a meeting with Gosse that would determine our future. During the lunch break, we already discussed the need for a parser for Dutch.

I was looking for a job and Gosse had since returned to Groningen. They had founded Alfa-Informatica there. Gosse had a temporary position there, and when Jan de Vuyst left, there was a vacancy. Frans Zwarts (the later rector) had spoken to a few people, and it was arranged in no time. The vacancy was filled by Gosse *and* me. Both of us. Nobody understood how that was possible. That position at Alfa-Informatica would become permanent as soon as we obtained our doctorates. That was also arranged a year later. I obtained my doctorate in Utrecht with Gosse as my paranimf. Gosse obtained his doctorate in Groningen, and I was his paranimf.

It was a wonderful time. A very small group (four staff members and two PhD students). We had nothing to do with policy and administration yet, and there wasn't a professor. And perhaps hard to believe for the current members of the research group: what we were doing was very modern. We published articles authored by Bouma and van Noord, or by van Noord and Bouma. Colleagues from other universities sometimes confused us (that wasn't because of our physical appearance, of course). Gosse would laugh about this.

A professor arrived, John Nerbonne. New PhD students and new colleagues arrived. Projects were secured, so that meant even more new colleagues. We were also fired once, but that worked out in the end too. We worked on our parser, together with advanced students and colleagues. Gosse presented the parser at a competition for Dutch parsers. We came first. The test set consisted of only 18 sentences. Those were the days.

Gosse wrote a report for the Dutch Language Union together with Ineke Schuurman. That report provided an overview of electronic tools for the Dutch language, and especially which tools were still missing. The report formed the basis for several large-scale projects (STEVIN, CLARIN, CLARIAH) in which those tools were developed. A welcome bonus, of course, was that millions of euros went to computational linguistics.

Gosse received a large NWO grant for the development of a Dutch-language question-answering system. Some time later, the hype surrounding IBM Watson emerged: the “supercomputer” that had defeated the best human opponent in the American television quiz show Jeopardy. The media wanted to know more about this, and so the television program Hart van Nederland came to film in our hallway. The first question they asked Gosse was where his *Dutch* supercomputer was located…

By then, we were participating in a European Master's program, Language and Communication Technologies. Gosse coordinated this in Groningen for years. That involved a lot of organizational work. Just the selection of the best students from hundreds of applications every year alone. You actually never heard Gosse grumble about all that work. Gosse never grumbled at all. Some lecturers sometimes grumble about support services like the computer department or the finance department, or about certain students. Gosse never participated in that. Gosse really never said anything nasty about anyone else. I also can't remember Gosse ever getting angry about anything. After thinking for a long time, I recall only one situation where a swear word passed his lips. That was when he dropped something himself due to clumsiness. So, at most, angry at himself.

His qualities keep coming up in the online condolence register. A kind, calm, sensible man. The “pillar” / “foundation” / “solid base” / “cornerstone” of the group. Also modest. Miranda sometimes said “too modest”. I never saw him jealous either. He was happy for the success of others. This week, another colleague told me that he finds that so beautiful about our group: we are a team and people are happy for the successes of others. Gosse’s good example set over the years is crucial for that.

A pleasant character and a good brain are, of course, important for a scientific career. In Gosse's case, there was another important quality. That was a mentality of not haggling over things for too long, but simply getting down to work. For example, when expanding the parser's dictionary from a few hundred words to tens of thousands of words. He took an existing electronic dictionary and semi-automatically converted it into a form the system understood. You do run into practical problems, but you then solve them one by one.

That is also how it went when developing the first treebank for written Dutch: a large collection of sentences with syntactic analysis added manually. Gosse simply started with a few sentences. Through trial and error, you discover which tools you need and where the real problems lie. It was the same with his work for the Universal Dependencies framework. Just get started, and then you discover through trial and error what the problems are and how to solve them. Perhaps that is the cyclist in Gosse. How can you cycle 500 kilometers? Just start at the first kilometer.

I don't say much about Gosse as a lecturer. Perhaps because I never sat in his lecture hall. But the students speak very highly of him. He is also well-liked as a supervisor of students and PhD candidates. At the party following the doctoral defense of two PhD students, Gosse was even affectionately serenaded by both ladies.

You notice that I say “we” quite often. For thirty-four years, we worked together on the fourth floor of the Harmonie. We did a great many projects, articles, lectures, and activities outside of work together. Even before my appointment in Groningen began, during the Christmas holidays of 1991, Petri and I and a two-month-old baby stayed with Gosse and Miranda, above the parking garage behind the Zuiderdiep. That baby is now almost 35 years old and teaches the Introduction to Information Science course together with Gosse. Last Sunday, the day of the accident, I had to call him to tell him that he had to teach the lecture alone.

I am retiring in a few weeks. Last summer, I was already thinking about a thank-you speech, because that is how it goes, of course. I knew that I had to thank one person by far the most. But I won't get that chance anymore. 

This is sad and shocking beyond words.

Gosse was my colleague for several years. He was a core member of the GroNLP research group and the coordinator of the study programme. No matter the situation, I remember him always calm, friendly and constructive.

He made substantial contributions in his research area, and from the way he talked about his work in our weekly meetings it is clear that he was committed and passionate. He also enjoyed in his leisure time practising the sports he loved so much. If there is any comfort to be found, it is knowing that he had a fulfilling and enjoyable life. Rest in peace. 

Gosse, zo plots verdwenen, wat een gemis. Ik had zo graag nog een goed gesprek gehad. Hij was mijn promotiebegeleider in Groningen alweer zo’n 20 jaar geleden. Zijn kalme persoonlijkheid en vriendelijke toegankelijkheid waren precies wat ik nodig had. ’t Gaf me vertrouwen, een stabiele basis. Als ik een idee had om een paper in twee weken te schrijven voor één of andere deadline, zei hij: rustig aan, t hoeft niet voor die deadline af. Hij was een voorbeeld van balans, altijd de tijd om je advies te geven, of je met iets te helpen, maar ook lekker op tijd op de fiets naar huis. Die liefde voor de fiets neem ik overal met me mee, in Genève met een oude mountainbike de heuvels langs t meer op, in Stuttgart voor t eerst met een kinderzitje voorop, in Malta waar t opletten geblazen was en hier in Zwitserland met een e-mountainbike (dat is zeker vals spelen). Ik denk graag aan je terug, Gosse, ook nu ik dit schrijf en weet dat ik morgen mijn les klaar moet hebben, er twee papers gelezen en ingestuurd moeten worden etc. etc. Jij deed alles in kalmte en met aandacht. Bedankt voor de fijne tijd in Groningen, heel veel sterkte voor de collega’s daar en natuurlijk je gezin en familie.