Petrus Wilhelmus Tax

Dr. Petrus W. Tax, Professor Emeritus of German at UNC-Chapel Hill, passed away in his home on September 19, 2024, at the age of 93. He was born on June 12, 1931, in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. After receiving a college education at Canisius College in Nijmegen, he studied Germanistik and Philosophy at the Catholic University (now Radboud University) in Nijmegen. Thereafter, he moved to Saarbrücken, Germany, where he served at the Deutsches Institut of the Universität des Saarlandes as an Assistant to Professors Hugo Moser and Hans Eggers and received his Ph.D. in German (Mediävistik) in 1959. A few weeks later, he and Maria Geraedts were married.

In September 1962, he moved with his wife and two sons to the United States to become a lecturer in German at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1968, he moved on as an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he regularly taught medieval German literature, Paleography, German Folklore, German Civilization, and occasionally Dutch literature. He was promoted to full professor and spent the rest of his academic career at UNC. He was a publishing scholar as well, the author of several books and many articles and book reviews, mainly in the areas of Old High German and Middle High German language and literature. From 1975-2009, he specially produced and published (in cooperation with the late Professor James C. King of the George Washington University) an 18-volume edition with commentary of the Old High German and Latin works of Notker the German (ca. 950-1022), a famous scholar and beloved teacher at the Benedictine monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland. Dr. Tax retired in 1993 after 25 years of service to UNC and continued his research for many years.

Dr. Tax was a member of St. Thomas More Catholic Church and Parish in Chapel Hill. He served several years as a catechist, discussing the Sunday readings with people who wanted to become Catholics. After his retirement from UNC, he also served in the church’s Caring and Sharing Center, where he checked, repaired and upgraded donated computers and printers, which he then provided to many people who needed or wanted them.

Dr. Tax was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He is survived by his wife of more than 64 years, Maria; four children and 13 grandchildren: Jan Tax, wife Karen with Alex and Lucas, Frans Tax, spouse Lisa Nagy with Niko and Talia, Wienke Tax, spouse Jane Fry, with Ariel and Uma, Marieke Steiner, husband Adam Steiner, with Alyssa and Theo, and his late son Paul’s children Willem, Emma, Grace, Lucy, Mary and their mother, Penelope. His son Paul predeceased him in May 2024.

Funeral services will be held at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill, on October 4 at 2:30 pm, immediately followed by a placement of the ashes in the Columbarium of the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Saint Thomas More Sharing and Caring Center or to the Johns Hopkins Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center.

The Tax family wishes to thank UNC Hospice for their extraordinary care and concern in Dr. Tax’s final days.