November 28, 2017
 

Dear Members of our Campus Community:

I am saddened to share with you the news that Professor Emeritus Carlos García Barrón passed away on August 3, 2017, in Marbella, Spain.

Dr. Barrón made important contributions to our campus over three decades as a leading scholar, a dedicated professor, and an exemplary administrator. He joined our Department of Spanish and Portuguese in 1965. Renowned for his deep insights into Spain's 19th and early 20th century literature and culture, he published influential books and critical editions on topics such as Romanticism, the realistic novel, and the 1898 generation within the context of the Spanish-American War. His scholarly expertise extended to modern and contemporary Peruvian literature and political thought as well, and was strengthened by his deep connection to Peru and its people, including two years of service as Cultural Attaché at the U.S. embassy in Lima in the mid-1970s. At UC Santa Barbara, Professor Barrón served as Chair of our Department of Spanish and Portuguese from 1980 to 1984, and twice as EAP Study Center Director in Madrid, first in 1969-1971 and again in 1988-90. Following his retirement in the mid-1990s, he and his wife returned to Spain.

He was born in Barcelona in 1932, and left Spain in 1939 with his mother and grandfather following the Republican defeat in the Spanish Civil War and the rise of General Franco. After living for five years in Panama, the family moved to California, where Professor Barrón studied International Relations at UC Berkeley. While he maintained a lifelong interest in diplomacy and world policy, his desire to explore and deepen his cultural roots prompted him to pursue graduate studies in Hispanic literature, leading to a master’s degree at UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. at UCLA. With the support of a Fulbright Fellowship, he visited Madrid in 1964. There he met Mercedes Villanueva, whom he married one year later; they remained lovingly together for thirty two years until the end of his life.

Professor Barrón is admired and remembered by a wide circle of colleagues and former students who remain deeply thankful for his hard work, enthusiasm, mentorship, and leadership. Our thoughts and condolences are with his wife, Mercedes; their sons, Carlos and Miguel; and their many friends, family members, and colleagues in Spain, the U.S., and around the world. Our campus flag will be lowered in his honor on November 30.

Sincerely,

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor