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Robert Manly Duncan. September 12, 1903-June 12, 1998. R.M. Duncan was born in Estelline Texas. He moved to New Mexico as a teenager, graduating from Farmington High School in 1921. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1926. He spent the next two years teaching at the Insituto Ingles in Santiago, Chile. Upon his return to the U.S., he began his doctoral studies and received his Ph.D. in Romance Philology from the University of Wisconsin in 1936. He was on the faculty at UNM from 1937 until his retirement in 1969. During his tenure as Chairman of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, the department as well as the university received national recognition for the excellence of the language program. He showed a lifelong interest in Spain, and was a past president of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. His concern for the for the welfare of educators in New Mexico led him to be instrumental in the creation of the Public Employees Retirement Act and he served on the board of that organization for several years. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Nina B. Duncan, and his second wife, Betty W. Duncan. He is survived by his wife, Breck; son, Robert B. Duncan and wife, Barbara; daughter, Nancy D. Swigger and husband, Ron; son, John Wm. Duncan II and wife, Fran; and four grandchildren, Jocelyn Swigger, Bettina Swigger, Juan Ramon Duncan, and Rebeca Marjorie Duncan. A memorial service is pending. Memorial contributions may be made to the University of New Mexico Library or the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.
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