From: Cruz, Anne J [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2013 08:15
To: Lauer, A Robert
Subject: RE: Elias Rivers

Estimado Robert,

Si todavia no has enviado el siguiente mensaje y hay
tiempo, por favor adjunta al mismo el obituario que
acabo de recibir.

De nuevo, mis agradecimientos, Anne

________________________________________
From: Cruz, Anne J
Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2013 11:25 PM
To: Lauer, A Robert
Subject: RE: Elias Rivers

Estimado Robert, te ruego que envies el siguiente mensaje a los
cervantistas y comediantes. Mil gracias, Anne


Dear Colleagues:

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the death of Elias Rivers,
a founding member of our society and presidente de honor of the AIH,
among many other honors. His legacy to our field is immeasurable,
as was his deep love for his family, and his generosity and kindness
to his students and friends. His is an irreparable loss to us all.

Sadly, Anne

Visitation and funeral will be held on Saturday, December 28 in the
afternoon, at Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home, 11800 New Hampshire Ave.,
Silver Spring, MD, 20904. 301-622-2290.


Queridos colegas,

Con profundo dolor les comunico el fallecimiento de nuestro querido
Elias L. Rivers, socio fundador de la Sociedad de Poesia Renacentista
y Barroca y presidente de honor de la Asociacion Internacional de
Hispanistas. Hemos de agradecerle el legado imperecedero que nos
deja, asi como el gran amor que demostro' a Georgina Sabat-Rivers y a
sus hijos, y el carino y la generosidad con que siempre
recibio a sus estudiantes y amigos. Su partida es una perdida
irreparable para todos nosotros. Mi sentido pesame para la familia,
Anne


ELIAS L. RIVERS

1924-2013





Professor Elias L. Rivers, a world renowned linguist and educator whose work on Spanish oral history during the “Golden Age” was a major influence on a generation of scholars, died December 21 after falling and sustaining a head injury at his assisted living home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.  He was 89.



Rivers was born in 1924 on James Island and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. He grew up speaking both English and Gullah, the creole language commonly spoken by his family’s African American and Caribbean help, who were important caregivers when he was a young boy.  After studying Latin and Greek for two years at the College of Charleston, he suspended his education to serve in the U.S. Army from 1943-1946.  He initially was sent to Georgetown University and entered a language immersion program in Chinese, and shipped off to serve in China, Burma and India in the Signal Corps.  He often credited his military enlistment during World War II as the eye opening and life altering experience that introduced him to the world beyond his youth.



Upon returning home in 1946, he enrolled at Yale University, where in 1948 he earned an A.B. in Chinese, Latin and Spanish, graduating summa cum laude and honored as Phi Beta Kappa.  He continued his education at Yale and received his Masters in Spanish and French in 1950, and his Ph.D. in Spanish Renaissance Poetry in 1952.



Throughout this period and for much of his academic life, his superlative work was recognized and sustained with a Sterling Fellowship for predoctoral research in Spain, a Howard Fellowship for library research, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship for research in Spain, and multiple National Endowment for the Humanities grants.



In 1992, Rivers won the prestigious Nebrija Prize from the University of Salamanca and in 2009 was elected corresponding member of the Real Academia Espanola.  As a long-time member of the Modern Language Association, he served on various committees, and was closely affiliated with the Asociacion Internacional de Hispanistas, serving as Secretary General from 1962-1980, Vice President from 1980-1986, and President from 1986-1989.



But Rivers always said his most gratifying work was as a professor, sharing his knowledge and expertise with his colleagues and students.  From 1952-1962 he taught at Dartmouth College, from 1962-1964 at the Ohio State University, from 1964-1978 at Johns Hopkins University, and from 1978-1993 at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  He was in constant demand as a speaker and participant at conferences across the globe, and spent occasional semesters teaching at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Irvine, and at prominent universities in Spain, keeping an apartment in Madrid.



Professor Rivers is the author and/or editor of more than two dozen books, ranging on diverse subjects expressing his love of poets such as Garcilaso de la Vega, Quevedo and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz; his fascination with linguistics as developed inThings Done With Words: Speech Acts in Hispanic Drama and Quixotic Scriptures: Essays on the Textuality of Hispanic Literature; and his seminal investigation into the work of Miguel de Cervantes.  His most widely hailed writings dealt with the poetry of Spain’s Renaissance and Golden Age.  Rivers also published hundreds of papers, articles, reviews and essays.



He is survived by his devoted sister, Mary Powe, of Blacksburg, Virginia, and his brother, John Rivers, of Black Mountain, North Carolina; his first wife, Phyllis Pirl Rivers, of Baltimore, Maryland, and their three children: Eli, of Portland Maine, and Franklin and Cornelia (Susie), both of Baltimore, Maryland, and four grandchildren -- Abigail, Ursula, Beatrix and Rufus.  He remarried in 1969 to Georgina Sabat, a noted scholar and professor, and is survived by four stepchildren: Armando, of New York City; Antonio, of Fairfax, Virginia; Rodolfo (Rudy), of Reston, Virginia; and Georgina (Mimi), of Bethesda, Maryland; and seven more grandchildren -- Alex, Julian, Daniela, Victor, Angela, Aaron and Sofia.  Following the death of his second wife in 2008, Rivers continued living in Coral Gables, but moved to Maryland in early 2013 to be closer to his family.



Rivers loved to travel widely, and was known as a talented chef, cooking large feasts for his family and guests. He and Sabat retired to Coral Gables, Florida, where both continued to research and write, often using the resources of the University of Miami, a short walk from their home.  He will be remembered by his grandchildren for the countless stories he liked to tell of his childhood growing up in Charleston and on the Carolina coast, and especially the fascinating tales of his indelible experiences in Asia during the Second World War.  His family, friends and colleagues no doubt will miss his deeply curious mind, the wisdom gained as a voracious reader throughout his full life, along with his keen observations on society, politics and culture.