Without Richard E. Greenleaf, much of what we now know about Mexican history and society in the 15th and 16th centuries would have remained shrouded in fog.
The professor of Latin American history was “an absolute giant in the field,” said his student and former New Mexico state historian Stanley M. Hordes. “He was an outstanding teacher, outstanding mentor and an outstanding scholar.”
But he was so low-key about his success that his family was always surprised at how well-known he was.
“He was very humble. He never flaunted any of that,” said his sister-in-law Carla Greenleaf. “We knew he got awards, but we never knew how important they were.”
Greenleaf died of Parkinson’s disease in Albuquerque on Nov. 8. He was 81.
He was born May 6, 1930, in Hot Springs, Ark. As a teenager he took quickly to music, playing the organ for several area radio programs.
He attended the University of New Mexico for his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate, for which he studied with famed professor France V. Scholes. Greenleaf taught for one year at the University of Albuquerque in 1953 before moving to Mexico City to teach at the University of the Americas.
In 1969, he moved to New Orleans for Tulane University. A year later, he had taken over what is now the university’s Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies.
His scholarship was huge and impressive, Hordes said, with more than 33 books and articles about the history of the Catholic church and Spanish Inquisition in Latin America.
His biggest accomplishments as a scholar involved his use of Inquisition records to study Mexico’s complex society.
“He taught his students how to utilize documentation in archives all over Spain and Latin America,” Hordes said. He made sure students could read those handwritten documents, some of which “look like they’re written in Arabic.”
Students were the focus of most of Greenleaf’s time and energy. “We were more than just students,” Hordes said. “We were real human beings; we were real people.”
James Huck, assistant director of Tulane’s Stone Center, also studied with Greenleaf.
Greenleaf made sure his students were covered by grants and scholarships, and he even helped them find jobs after graduating. It made graduate students from other schools jealous, Hordes said.
He liked to poke fun at students. Hordes got lost taking Greenleaf to a hotel in Hordes’ hometown, and “he never let me forget it.”
Huck said Greenleaf’s jokes, coming from such a demanding professor, were a welcome reminder to enjoy life even when you’re working hard.
Greenleaf was a world-class traveler, and he loved nothing more than showing friends and family his favorite out-of-the-way restaurants.
When he retired from Tulane in 1998, he continued to give his time, expertise and money to both Tulane and UNM.
UNM’s Latin American and Iberian Institute owes much to his guidance, as do several history programs, including the Richard E. Greenleaf Visiting Scholar program, which attracts scholars from all over the country to see UNM’s vast collection of Latin American historical documents. “He’s just really helped strengthen studies here,” said Susan Tiano, the institute’s director.
“His students were his children,” said Carla Greenleaf. The professor never married, she said, but his students are devoted to him, and most of them have success of their own. Hordes, former state historian, is one, and Carla Greenleaf said she’s been to a library in Durango named for another.
“I’m finding trails of Richard all over in his ex-students,” she said. “He had a wonderful life. A wonderful life.”
Greenleaf is survived by his sister-in-law Carla, nephews Randy and Robert, and many great-nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be 3 p.m. Friday at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 2626 Arizona NE.
— This article appeared on page C03 of the Albuquerque Journal
Reprint story -- Email the reporter at mandazola@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3881
