Neil MacKenzie (he never used his given first name to be distinguished with his namesake father, David)[1] was born in London in 1926 and attended a succession of schools in Southern England.
He was promoted to Reader in 1965, a post he held until 1975 when he received an appointment as Chair of Oriental Philology at the University of Göttingen in Germany.
Even though MacKenzie was an acknowledged authority on Kurdish and medieval Khwarezmian, he contributed significantly to the study of other Iranian languages, such as Middle Persian, Sogdian and Pashto.
"[2] His Concise Pahlavi Dictionary (1971) was not only one of his most important works, but remains the authoritative lexicographic reference on the language of the 9th-12th century Zoroastrian texts.
Generally recognised as the world's leading authority on modern Kurdish and medieval Khwarezmian, he also made distinguished contributions to the study of many other Iranian languages, including Pashto, Pahlavi and Sogdian, at the same time displaying enviable competence in non-Iranian languages such as Arabic and Chinese.