In Memoriam: Professor Jorge Ruffinelli

Emeritus Professor Jorge Ruffinelli, Department of Iberian and Latin American Cultures, passed away in the morning of February 4, 2026. He is survived by his spouse, interpreter poet Cristina Meneghetti. Professor Ruffinelli is remembered as an encyclopedic connoisseur of Latin American cinema, having authored several works of reference in that domain. He was exiled from his native Uruguay during the 1973-1985 military dictatorship toward the University of Xalapa, in Veracruz, Mexico, before joining the Stanford faculty in the 1990s. He was active until shortly before the pandemic. In addition to film, Ruffinelli wrote foundational studies on Augusto Monterroso, Juan Carlos Onetti, Juan Rulfo, Mariano Azuela, and other luminaries of the Latin American novel mid 20th century boom. From the later stage in his intellectual output, his students and colleagues recall his curatorship of cutting-edge documentary film-maker festivals in the Stanford campus.