Fran? oise Ozanne-Rivierre was born at St. Julien-sur-Calonne in the d? partement of Calvados in Normandy, France, on January 2, 1941. She passed away at her home in Montreuil, Paris, on November 11, 2007 after a long illness. She will be deeply missed by friends and colleagues alike. Fran? oise was a distinguished French linguist and a key member of the Laboratoire de Langues et Civilisations? Tradition Orale (LACITO), situated at Villejuif in Paris. LACITO is itself a unit within the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the French national center for scientific research. She completed her doctorate in linguistics in 1973, her dissertation titled Le iaai, langue m? lan? sienne d'Ouv? a (Nouvelle-Cal? donie), at Universit? Paris III. She for maHy became a member of CNRS in 1972 where she remained throughout her career until her retirement in 2006. Fran? oise continued to play an active role right up until the time of her death. Her research on Oceanic languages began in 1972 under Andr? Georges Haudricourt (Ethnohistory of the Pacific Program), and continued from 1976 onwards as a member of LACITO, directed initiaUy by Jacqueline MC Thomas. However, the association of the Rivierre family with New Caledonia goes back to 1965, when Fran? oise's husband Jean-Claude undertook his first fieldwork in Melanesia, under the aegis and guidance of Andr?-Georges Haudricourt, who launched them into what was to become a Hfelong preoccupation with the languages of New Caledonia. CoincidentaUy, the first time that I met Fran? oise and Jean-Claude and their two then smaU children, Nicolas and David, was at the South Pacific Commission in Noum? a in 1965, upon their return from fieldwork in northern New Caledonia. We immediately became close friends and coUeagues, working together in the field of Oceanic linguistics for the next forty years. It is not surprising, therefore, that the passing of Fran? oise contin ues to weigh heavily on me particularly, and on the linguistics community in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the AustraUan National University, with whom the members of LACITO have long enjoyed a fruitfiil coUaborative relationship. While she accompanied Jean-Claude on his first fieldwork trip to Melanesia in 1965, Fran? oise undertook her first solo field research in New Caledonia from July to October 1971, when she conducted research into Iaai, spoken on Ouv? a in the Loyalty Islands to the northeast of the New Caledonian mainland. After that period, she was a constant visi tor to many areas in the north of the mainland, with fieldwork in New Caledonia in 1973, 1976, 1978, and several further field trips in the period 1986-92. Her final period of fieldwork in New Caledonia was conducted in 1997, when she completed her earlier work on two northern languages, Pwaamei and Pwapw?.