Richard Rees Fagen, pioneering professor of Latin American studies, dies at 93

Richard Rees Fagen, the Gildred Professor in Latin American Studies, Emeritus, professor emeritus of political science in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, and a self-described “accidental professor” who both studied and pushed back against U.S. policy in Latin America during the second half of the 20th century, died August 12, 2026. He was 93.

Fagen spent his entire academic career at Stanford, beginning in 1962 as an assistant professor in the departments of Political Science and Communication (after earning graduate degrees in communication, journalism, and political science on the Farm). From the beginning of his career, Fagen was praised for his methodology and perception, traits that he brought to studies in Cuba, Chile, and beyond. By the time he retired in 1993, he had made an impact both globally, through his activism, and on campus, through his mentorship of countless graduate students.

“What he loved was his students,” said Terry Karl, Fagen’s former student and his successor as the Gildred Professor in Latin American Studies, Emerita, in H&S. “He said at his retirement party that he knew that our scholarly work fades, but our students do not. The quantity of his PhD students and the incredible quality of those students was impressive as was how they learned from him to combine really strong values about poverty and inequality and human rights with really good scholarship. He was extremely loyal to his students—and quite cherished by them.”

Another of those students, Wayne Cornelius, who is now distinguished professor of political science, emeritus, at the University of California, San Diego, echoed that sentiment. “He was known for giving his PhD students wide latitude to pursue their research passions, however unconventional by discipline standards,” Cornelius said. “My passion was doing fieldwork among the migrant poor living in squatter settlements on the periphery of Mexico City—hardly the stuff of mainstream political science. But Richard cheered me on and advocated with Stanford University Press for the book that resulted (Politics and the Migrant Poor in Mexico City, 1975).”

A storied career with a passion for advocacy 

Fagen’s journey began, in a sense, after he was drafted into the Army following completion of a bachelor’s degree in English literature at Yale. Stationed in Puerto Rico, he learned Spanish in the island’s small cantinas. Several peripatetic years followed, and he eventually drifted to California, thinking he would build houses with an uncle in San José. Instead, he made his way to the Stanford campus, seeking professors’ advice on what to study as a graduate student. He eventually settled on political science and wrote his doctoral thesis on the end of British colonial rule in Burma (now Myanmar) and Ghana.

But his focus soon turned to Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular Cuba, which had recently experienced its revolution. His book The Transformation of Political Culture in Cuba (Stanford University Press, 1969) drew from three trips to the island nation (including meetings with Fidel Castro), and it earned praise from scholars and The New York Times alike for its detailed research and considered conclusions. He went on to write or edit 16 books and more than 40 articles, even publishing a spy novel (Closer to Houston, John Daniel & Co., 1990) set in an unnamed Latin American country.

In the 1970s, he embraced the activist part of activist scholar. He lived in Chile as a resident consultant for the Ford Foundation in 1972 and 1973, a time when Chile was led by the left-leaning Salvador Allende—just before the coup that installed the repressive Pinochet regime, which was propped up in part by the United States. Then he was involved with efforts to help scholars whose work and lives the regime threatened. In 2017, this work was recognized with the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins, the highest civilian honor awarded to non-Chilean citizens and Fagen’s proudest accomplishment, according to friends. He also testified before Congress during the 1970s and 1980s, critiquing U.S. policy in Chile and Nicaragua. His work even inspired a cinematic portrayal, with a character in the 1982 Jack Lemmon film Missing said to be inspired by Fagen and his work in Chile.

On the scholarly side, colleagues noted his generous, collaborative nature. “I will always remember Richard for his genuine encouragement and outreach to colleagues in other fields working in Latin America,” said William Durham, the Bing Professor in Human Biology, Emeritus, and professor emeritus of anthropology in H&S. “For example, it was already a treat to have someone of his stature show up for the festive event celebrating my tenure at Stanford. But it was so wonderfully supportive, and so very Richard, when he spoke at that event, applauding my modest efforts to bring political economy and ecology—his specialty and my own, respectively—closer together in understanding the environmental history of Central America."

A life of adventure

Prior to his time at Stanford, Fagen had already scratched an itch for adventure. At 14, he and a friend built a boat they tried to sail from Chicago to New Orleans during spring break. Their journey ended 1,000 miles short, but it left a permanent impression. Later, after his military service, he spent two years repairing ships and learning undersea photography in the Caribbean.

After retiring from Stanford in 1993, he returned to these interests: He spent time on ships in Mexico, Cuba, Papua New Guinea, and Antarctica, and he consulted on a two-hour underwater special for the Discovery Channel. At his home on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands off Washington state, he built and sailed five small boats.

In 1995, he received the Latin American Studies Association’s Kalman H. Silvert Award for lifetime contributions (the youngest person to do so). In his speech at that year’s association meeting, he closed with some valedictory advice, echoing sociologist C. Wright Mills’ 1959 call for social scientists to engage with their times and orient their work toward understanding “the terrible and magnificent world of human society in the second half of the 20th century.” Then, Fagen added: “Change the last phrase to ‘the first decades of the 21st century’ and you have, I believe, an appropriate credo for Latin American studies in the foreseeable future.”

Fagen is survived by his wife, Deborah Shreve Bundy; four children (Sharon, Ruth, Elisabeth, and Michael Fagen); and 10 grandchildren.