John Davis Wirth was the Gildred Professor of Latin American Studies

Latin American Studies

Latin American studies is an academic discipline dealing with the study of Latin America and Latin Americans.-Definition:Latin American studies critically examines the history, culture, politics, and experiences of Latin Americans in Latin America and often also elsewhere .Latin American studies...

 at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. Wirth earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1958 and a doctorate in Latin American history in 1967 from Stanford. His dissertation was entitled Brazilian economic nationalism: trade and steel under Vargas. His first book, The Politics of Brazilian Development, 1930-1954, won the Bolton Prize in 1971 and his second, Minas Gerais in the Brazilian Federation, 1889-1937, won an honorable mention in 1978.

Wirth cultivated a wide range of interests during his scholarly career. His research included examinations of Inca and Aztec

Aztec

The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

 states, urban growth in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 and São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, and Pan-American environmental politics. Wirth, who had retired from Stanford prior to his death, had most recently turned his attention to the complex relationships between Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. He co-founded the North American Institute in Santa Fe

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

 and served as its president.

Wirth was born in Dawson, New Mexico

Dawson, New Mexico

Dawson is a ghost town in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States and was the site of two separate coal mining disasters in 1913 and 1923. Dawson is located about 17 miles northeast of Cimarron, New Mexico. Dawson was a coal mining company town founded in 1901 when rancher John Barkley Dawson...

. in 1936 and developed a deep affection for the northern New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 region. His last book by the University of New Mexico Press tells the story of the Los Alamos Ranch School

Los Alamos Ranch School

Los Alamos Ranch School was a private boarding school for boys in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, near Otowi, in what would eventually become Los Alamos, New Mexico...

, which was displaced during the war in efforts to build the nuclear bomb. He died on June 20, 2002, in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, from a heart aneurysm while delivering a lecture to the Friends of Fort Polk, a Canadian historical society.

Wirth was married to Nancy Meem Wirth, daughter of the John Gaw Meem

John Gaw Meem

John Gaw Meem IV was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival style...

. Together they had three sons: Peter, Nicholas and Timothy. His son, Peter Wirth, was elected in 2004 to the New Mexico State Legislature. His brother Timothy Wirth is a former U.S. congressman and senator and now president of the United Nations Foundation.

Books

• Environmental management on North America's borders (co-edited with Richard Kiy). College Station, Tex.: Texas A & M University Press, 1998.
• The politics of Brazilian development 1930-1954. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1970
• Minas and the Nation: a study of regional power and dependency, 1889-1937. Stony Brook, N.Y. : State University of New York, 1974
• Minas Gerais in the Brazilian Federation, 1889-1937. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1977
• Manchester and São Paulo: problems of rapid urban growth (Co-authored with Robert L. Jones
  Robert L. Jones
  -Life:He lives in Galveston Bay Area of Texas. He was a computer scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center.His work has appeared in Southwestern American Literature, The Southern Review, Houston Poetry Fest Anthologies, JAMA, Missouri Review, Presence, Poetry.-Works:** -External links:...
  
  ). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1978
• The oil business in Latin America: the early years. Washington, D.C.: Beard Books, 2001, 1985
• Latin American oil companies and the politics of energy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985
• State and society in Brazil: continuity and change (co-authored with Edson de Oliveira Nunes). Boulder: Westview Press, 1987
• The media, NAFTA, and the shaping of the North American community. Santa Fe, N.M.: North American Institute, 1994
• Identities in North America: the search for community (co-authored with Robert Earle
  Robert Earle
  Robert Earle was a host of G.E. College Bowl, an American game show that was broadcast first by CBS, later by NBC...
  
  ). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995
• Smelter smoke in North America: the politics of transborder pollution. Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2000
• Los Alamos: the Ranch School years, 1917-1943 (co-authored with Linda Aldrich) Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003