This success afforded us privilege and opportunities, but Dad’s magnanimity was not limited to his family. A lifelong liberal humanist, Dad was immensely involved in the Indian cultures of the Southwest, Mexico, and Central America as both philanthropist and avid collector of art and artifacts.
As his collections grew, he would donate them to museums such as the Mint in Santa Fe. Such was his dedication to the exploration and preservation of these Indian cultures that he became a strenuous educator on their behalf. He believed that these cultures offered earth-centric spirituality that even an Anglo-Saxon atheist could embrace and treasure.
His broad education, his sense of humor, and his empathy for the peoples that Western history has elided will be sorely missed. Such qualities defined a special man, a man whose ambition was to become more fully human.
Published in Santa Fe New Mexican on Sept. 11, 2015