Deceased April 30, 2005

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In Memory

Hugh was my best professional friend. Our close friendship began when we discovered, on finishing graduate school (at different institutions), that we had both chosen Mexican history as a specialty. Since the late 1950s, we carried on an extensive correspondence. Reading through it has allowed me to relive our friendship (which went far beyond the purely professional), to recall Hugh’s remarkable career at the University of Connecticut and to capture again his sterling personal qualities. We shared all aspects of our professional and much of our family lives: We read and criticized each other’s writing; turned to each other for letters of recommendation; compared notes on courses we taught, students we had; we roomed together at meetings and we met together occasionally as couples. Hugh published the standard critical work on the beginnings of Mexican independence, The Hidalgo Revolt (1966), and then turned to the royalist and conservative opposition to the revolution for independence, a highly significant and unstudied subject on which he wrote a host of essays and articles. His Dictatorship in Spanish America (1965), extensively revised in 1992, was widely used by generations of students. Hugh was an imaginative and dedicated teacher of broad interests for students of all levels. How many professors would have created an entirely new graduate seminar in their final semester? He trained dozens of Ph.D.s in many facets of Latin American history; testimonies from his former students abound. Moreover, Hugh worked assiduously to create from scratch a highly successful Center for Latin American Studies at Connecticut and acted as its director for two decades. His sense of humor was always close to the surface. One letter came dated “May 8, 1973. Hidalgo would have been 220 today if he hadn’t been shot.” On retirement, Hugh sent a memo to his department that he was arranging to have his large (and overstuffed) office of 27 years be put on the National Register of Historic Places. And, he wrote, “some colleagues actually believed me!” Hugh had superb diplomatic skills, which he put to use in organizing international conferences of Mexican and U.S. historians; a legendary one in 1985 would have failed without his deft touch. Though a keen critic, he was exceedingly generous toward the scholarship of others and encouraged colleagues as he did students. I have been the beneficiary of his generosity for more than 50 years, and I will sorely miss him.

Hugh Hamill and I both attended Wm. Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. We entered in the ninth grade. For some reason, Hugh did not enter school until a few weeks after me, so I was “assigned” to be his helpmate. Thus began a lifelong friendship. At Penn Charter, Hugh was everything that he later became at Amherst—a leader in all arenas of scholastic life. Hugh was destined to go to Harvard. But in his words, “A deftly cast #20 Royal Coachman” by Dean Wilson caught this promising young man, saving him from “the fishless waters of the Charles.” We were freshman roommates, fraternity brothers and class friends for 50-plus years.

A great deal has been said about Max Hamill … as a great deal should be as well as the great deal that will be over the years. We, his classmates of 1951, celebrate his life while deeply mourning his death and are thankful for our time with him as are his dear Betsy, four children and nine grandchildren … to whom we send love and sympathy. This exceptional and extraordinary man did it all at Amherst … scholastically, athletically and extra curricularly (i.e., student council, Phi Beta Kappa, Scarab, soccer captain and recognition as a top citizen before going off to Harvard to earn his master's and Ph.D. degrees) … and I mean all. As if that were not enough, he met, wooed, won and wed Charlie and Kitty Coles' daughter Betsy, considerate as always knowing they still had another daughter at home! With Max there was no swagger, strutting, shouting or self absorption … rather an outstanding career and life achievement, a modest though strong profile, sound judgment, integrity, concern and care for others, family love and dedication. What you saw is what you got … a true friend wearing his beret in a stylish way. Hugh never chased his honors or recognition … they flowed naturally to him based on his talent, personality, hard work, wry humor, community involvement and gentlemanly demeanor. He always displayed a special, unique, warm and thoughtful consideration for others. The two of us formed a brotherly bond and lifelong affectionate friendship of respect, trust and confidence when he captained the soccer team and I was its manager. And so this dear and marvelous man … Hugh Maxwell Hamill who came out of Pennsylvania to put on his green (never did I understand why it wasn’t purple?) beanie with the rest of us guinea pigs has left our ranks, but we are all “bound by ties that cannot sever” and he will ever be in each of our hearts “our whole life through.” Blessings, dear friend.

Charles A. Hale ’51
Jeffery Hartzell ’51
Allan S. Lerner ’51