In Memoriam
Dinko
Cvitanovic
Dinko Cvitanovic,
UNM professor of Spanish from 1973-80, died Feb. 19 of a heart
attack at age 64 in Bahía Blanca Argentina. A scholar of note,
he is survived by his wife and sometime collaborator Nilsa,
and son Gastón Mauricio.
Born in
Croatia, Cvitanovic, his family immigrated to Argentina, the
nation of his identity, when he was very young. He earned a
doctorate at the Universidad de Valladolid followed by fellowships
at the University of Louvain, Belgium, and the Instituto de
Cultura Hispánica of Madrid.
His academic
life was spent largely at the Universidad del Sur in Bahía Blanca,
where he achieved remarkable success in teaching, research and
administrative functions designated ultimately while he served
as principal investigator of Conicet (Argentina’s National Council
for Scientific and Technical Research).
Cvitanovic
came to UNM because the dictatorship in Argentina disrupted
the humanities in Argentine universities. First a visiting professor
of Spanish and Spanish American Letters, Cvitanovic later achieved
full professorship.
Concern
for his students, largely upper division and post-graduate degree
candidates, won him the admiration of American and Mexican students
alike. They referred to him affectionately as “Don Dinko.”