Roberto Etchepareborda, since 1984 the coordinator of the Organization of American States’ program to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, and former director, from 1979 to 1984, of the Department of Culture of the same organization, died in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 9, 1985. He is survived by his wife, the former María Edith Fernández.
Dr. Etchepareborda was born in Milan, Italy, where his father was serving as an Argentine diplomat. He received his primary and secondary schooling in Europe and Argentina, and a doctorate of law from the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He pursued careers in history and politics, and became prominent in the Argentine Radical party in the late 1950s, the foremost historian of that party, and the editor of the multivolume Hipólito Yrigoyen: Pueblo y gobierno (1956). He served successively as federal legislator, council member and later president of the City Council of Buenos Aires, a short term as governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, and director of the National Archives of Argentina. In 1962 he was Minister of Foreign Relations, and from 1962 to 1964 Argentine ambassador to India.
By vocation don Roberto was, above all, a historian and he served the field with distinction. Among the dozen books he authored special mention should be made of Zeballos y la política exterior argentina del 90 (1968), Historia de las relaciones internacionales argentina (1978), and Tres revoluciones: 1890, 1893, 1905 (1968), for which he received the Argentine National Book Award in 1970. He was a member of the history academies in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay. He has also been awarded the highest honors for his scholarly achievements by Brazil and by Ecuador. He held a Woodrow Wilson fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution in 1974. From 1981 until his death he was a contributing editor of the Handbook of Latin American Studies.
Don Roberto was an outstanding teacher who, with his erudition, skillful methods, and genuine interest in students, inspired generations of young historians. He taught at the Universidad del Sur in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, from 1966 to 1971, and served as president of that university from 1971 to 1973. In the United States he taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at the American University and at The Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced and International Studies, both in Washington, D.C. He assisted in acquiring the funding for the third edition of the National Directory of Latin Americanists, compiled under the late William E. Carter’s direction at the Library of Congress, and he was instrumental in securing grants for the microfilming of the Gabriela Mistral Papers, a project jointly sponsored by the Organization of American States and the National Library of Chile, and carried out by the Library of Congress.
His most recent accomplishment was the preparation of the most comprehensive bibliographic study of the Falkland/Malvinas question ever produced, which will be published in Argentina in 1986. Don Roberto’s energy and multiple talents allowed him to occupy a series of demanding administrative posts, while he steadily produced important contributions to Argentine history. Everyone who knew him will remember him for his research, teaching, professional service, administrative skills, but above all, for his friendliness.
