People

Hernández awarded William M. LeoGrande book prize

José Angel Hernández, associate professor of History, is a winner of the inaugural William M. LeoGrande Prize for the best book on U.S.-Latin American Relations published during the 2011-12 academic year. The award is given by the School of Public Affairs and the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University in Washington, D.C.
 
Hernández was recognized for his work, “Mexican American Colonization during the Nineteenth Century: A History of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands,” published by Cambridge University Press.

Obituary: Wilfried Malsch, professor emeritus of German

Wilfried Malsch, 88, of Amherst, professor emeritus of German, died March 12.
 
Bornin Karlsruhe am Rhein in Germany, he was captured by American troops in Natuno, Italy, during World War II. As a prisoner of war in Alabama and later in Pennsylvania he developed his love and respect for America as a place of tremendous change and endless hope.
 
A constant thread throughout his life from then on was both his fear of economic depression that led to Fascism in Germany and his hatred of war in general.

Obituary: Albert 'Bud' Owen, former painter

Albert C. “Bud” Owen, 93, of Amherst, a former painter, died March 14 at the Center for Extended Care in Amherst.

Born in Amherst, he grew up working on his family’s farm logging and delivering milk.
 
He was hired on campus as a farmhand in 1943 but left to serve in the Navy during World War II.  He returned to campus in 1954 as a janitor and was promoted to painter the following year. He left in 1984.
 
He leaves his children, Earl Owen and Mary Ann Phelon, and seven grandchildren.

Calling hours are Sunday, March 17 from 2-5 p.m. at the Czelusniak Funeral Home of Northampton.

Funeral

Obituary: Robert E. Taylor, former head of Romance Languages

Robert E. Taylor, 93, of Amherst, professor emeritus and former head of the Department of Romance languages, died Feb. 27 in Northampton.
 
Born in Portland, Ore., he earned his B.A. in French from Reed College in 1943 and his master’s degree and doctorate from Columbia University, specializing in 18th-century literature.

He served in World War II as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps, stationed in the South Pacific.

Before joining the faculty in 1963 as professor and head of the Department of Romance Languages, he was an associate professor at New York University and an instructor at

After 42 years on campus, Rose-Racine bids farewell

Nina Rose-Racine closed out a lengthy campus career Jan. 19 when she retired as the office manager in Asian Languages and Literatures.

She came to UMass as a student in 1970, graduated with a B.A. in Japanese and an Asian Studies Certificate in 1975, began work as the office manager for Asian Languages and Literature in 1975, and has been there ever since.

“I’ll miss a lot of the people that I’ve worked with over the years very much. Leaving the ‘work’ part of my years here is something that I can do. Leaving my colleagues is not easily done.”

She looks forward to learning how to garden,

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