Richard Greenleaf, historian at Tulane, dies at age 81

Richard Greenleaf, a historian who was chairman of Tulane University's history department and director of its Stone Center for Latin American Studies, died Nov. 8 in Albuquerque, N.M., of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 81.

Dr. Greenleaf was "a pioneering and towering figure in Latin American colonial history," said Thomas Reese, who succeeded Dr. Greenleaf as the Stone Center's executive director. "He trained generations of scholars."

A native of Hot Springs, Ark., Dr. Greenleaf grew up in Albuquerque and earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at the University of New Mexico.

He started his teaching career in 1953 at the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande in Albuquerque.

A year later, he moved to Mexico City to teach at the University of the Americas, where he was chairman of the department of history and international relations, academic vice president and dean of the Graduate School....