Distinguished professor emeritus Samuel G. Armistead, one of the world鈥檚 leading scholars of Spanish literature and language, died of natural causes on Aug. 7 at his Davis home. He was 85.
Armistead
His scholarly work ranged from the ballads of Spain and North Africa, to the Faroe Islands; from the improvised poetry of the Canary Islands; to the dying language of the Isle帽os of St. Bernard Parish, La. He wrote some 30 books and more than 500 articles.
His colleagues considered his work on the 鈥渞omancero鈥 (oral tradition and ballad), especially Sephardic folklore, to be one of his crowning achievements. Armistead clearly embraced the field: He was known for breaking out into medieval ballads in class.
鈥淪am Armistead was the real soul of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese,鈥 said his friend and departmental colleague, Professor Robert Blake.
鈥淲herever our faculty traveled in the world, scholars would ask about Sam,鈥 Blake said. 鈥淗is stature in the field of Spanish letters is that of a giant, a pioneer in oral tradition studies.
鈥淗e was conversant in nine world languages,鈥 Blake added. 鈥淵et, he was humble, kind and generous. We all love him without exception. He will be sorely missed.鈥
Armistead joined the 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis faculty in 1982; he served as department co-chair from 2000 to 2002. He had taught at Princeton (his alma mater), 澳门六合彩资料库LA, Purdue and the University of Pennsylvania before coming to 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis, and he taught at many other institutions as well, as a highly sought after visiting professor.
He received an honorary doctorate from the Universidad de Alcal谩 (Madrid) in 2010 and was named a corresponding member of the Real Academia Espa帽ola in 2009. Ten years earlier he received the highly prestigious Antonio Nebrija award from the University of Salamanca (Spain).
He grew up in Philadelphia and attended William Penn Charter School, guided by his mother, an avid reader and historian. She was fluent in several world languages, a talent that he inherited and would cultivate as an adult.
Having expressed a desire to learn Spanish, a young Armistead went to Cuba to stay with family friends. This trip sparked a lifelong curiosity about Hispanic culture, languages and literature, which later became the subject of some of his most productive scholarly work.
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton, and went on to earn master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees at Princeton. It was also the place where he met the renowned Spanish historian Am茅rico Castro, who would become Armistead鈥檚 mentor and leave an indelible mark on his academic formation.
His survivors include his wife of 30 years, Annie Laurie, a Davis yoga instructor; and a brother, Harry Armistead of Philadelphia.
A celebration of life is scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center.
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Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu