Russell Hamilton, 2nd from left
We are saddened to announce the death of RUSSELL
HAMILTON, former Professor of Portuguese in our department. He passed away over
the weekend in his sleep
after a two-week bout with pneumonia.
In 1964, Professor Hamilton joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota where he spent the next twenty years. He was one of the founding members of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies which previously had been designated as a Department of Romance Languages.
In 1984, he went to Vanderbilt University as Dean of the Graduate School. Throughout the sixteen years he served as Dean, he was able to teach an occasional course and maintain a research agenda until he retired in 2004. After his return to Minneapolis which he and his wife, Cherie, consider “home”, Russell contributed again to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies by teaching an occasional course and giving lectures to graduate and undergraduate students. In 2007, he was one of the academics recognized with the Medalha do Vulcão by President Pedro Pires of Cape Verde.
There will be a symposium in honor of his legacy this coming October. Details will follow at a later time.
