Dennis Cokely, director of Northeastern’s American Sign Language program, whose varied and tireless work for the Deaf community has opened access among the hearing-impaired, will be remembered for his generosity, depth of knowledge, and sense of caring. He died this month, just shy of his 72ndbirthday.
“He was a wonderful man, said Alma Bournazian, who is Deaf and worked in the ASL program with Cokely.
“He had a Deaf heart,” she said, using the word not to indicate that Cokely was physically deaf but rather that he embraced the unique cultural qualities of the Deaf community.
“He was always just there, donating, supporting, working in the Deaf community,” she said.
