Ramon Eduardo Ruiz dies at 88; historian of Mexico and Latin America at UC San Diego

Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, a renowned historian of Mexico and Latin America whose books included in-depth studies of the Mexican and Cuban revolutions, has died. He was 88.

Ruiz, an emeritus professor of history at UC San Diego, died Tuesday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe of complications from a recent fall and a battle with cancer, said his daughter Olivia Ruiz.

Ruiz, who joined the history department at UC San Diego in 1970 and chaired the department in the early ‘70s, was the author of 15 books, including “Triumphs and Tragedy: A History of the Mexican People,” “Cuba: The Making of a Revolution,” “The Great Rebellion: Mexico, 1905-1924” and “On the Rim of Mexico: Encounters of the Rich and Poor.”

In 1998, the 77-year-old American son of Mexican immigrants joined historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., biographer Stephen E. Ambrose, novelist E.L. Doctorow and five other distinguished Americans who were awarded the National Humanities Medal at a White House ceremony.

In the classroom and through his books, Ruiz told the San Diego Union-Tribune before traveling to Washington, he sought to “convey the complexity and excitement of Mexican history. I especially try to convey the great cultural richness of Mexican life and of Mexican literature.”

Richard Atkinson, University of California president emeritus and former chancellor of UC San Diego, said in a statement that Ruiz “contributed greatly to the excellence of the institution.”

“His passing is a great loss to the UCSD community and to historians throughout the world,” Atkinson said.

Born Sept. 9, 1921, in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego, Ruiz grew up in La Jolla, where his interest in the history of Mexico was piqued by his nursery-owner father, a former member of the Mexican navy who left his country during the revolution.

“My father was a militant nationalist,” Ruiz said in a 1998 interview with The Times. “He would talk about the heroes of Mexico, the food of Mexico, the character of Mexico and the folklore of Mexico. We were saturated with tales of Mexico, the values, and pride in our Mexican heritage.”

After serving in the Army Air Forces as a B-29 pilot in the Pacific theater during World War II, Ruiz earned his bachelor’s degree from what is now San Diego State in 1947. He received his master’s from what is now Claremont Graduate University in 1948 and his doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1954.

He began his teaching career at the University of Oregon in 1955. By the time he joined UC San Diego in 1970, he had spent 11 years as a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.

Although he had enjoyed life in New England, he said in the Union-Tribune interview, “I felt the need to be next to Mexico.

“On top of that, I wanted to establish friendships with Mexicans across the border and I wanted to teach young students. That was very important to me,” said Ruiz, who was instrumental in building a strong Hispanic studies program in history at UC San Diego.

Mario T. Garcia, a professor of Chicano studies and history at UC Santa Barbara, was one of Ruiz’s first graduate students at UC San Diego.

Ruiz, Garcia said, “was a man of substance. Not only was he a major historian of Mexico, especially about the Mexican Revolution of 1910, but he was a man with a very strong social conscience, and he passed that on to his students.”

Ruiz was an early protester of the Vietnam War and supported Cesar Chavez’s efforts on behalf of migrant farmworkers.

“He was always fighting for issues of social justice; those were very dear to his heart,” said Olivia Ruiz.

Ruiz retired from UC San Diego in 1991 but continued to write, including his 2003 memoir, “Memories of a Hyphenated Man,” which examined what it meant to be American by birth and Mexican by culture.

In the fall, the University of California Press will publish his final book, “Mexico: Why a Few Are Rich and the People Are Poor,” which will also be published in Spanish through Oceano Press in Mexico.

Ruiz’s wife of 62 years, Natalia, died in 2006.

In addition to Olivia, he is survived by his other daughter, Maura Parkinson; his sisters, Emma Urueta and Eva Montalvo; his brother, Roberto Ruiz; and two grandsons.

A memorial service is pending.

dennis.mclellan@latimes.com