Richard Paisley Kinkade

January 7, 1939 - May 15, 2020

Richard Paisley Kinkade. Born 7 January 1939, Los Angeles, CA, died peacefully at home with his family May 15, 2020. Preceded in death by parents Joe and Betty Kinkade; survived by brother, Jack (Jane); sister, Susan (Mike) Underwood; wife, Kiki Gekas; children, Kathleen, Richard Jr. (Mary), Scott (Mindy), Mary Elizabeth and Jonathan (Adlíh); grandchildren, Lawrence, Caroline, Paisley and Philip; brother-in-law Jim (Lynn) Gekas; sister-in-law Genie (Dick) Patterson; godson Kristofer O’Dowd and koumbari Peter, Paula, Alexis and Drew Fasseas. Richard moved to Tucson in 1946, attended Miles and Peter Howell Elementary, Mansfeld Middle, Green Fields Country Day and The Hill School in Pottstown, PA, where he was All-American Prep School swimmer in 3 events from 1955-56. He graduated from Yale (BA, 1960; PhD, 1965), and joined the University of Arizona Romance Languages Department in 1965 as Asst. Professor; promoted to Assoc. Professor in 1969 and left in 1971 to head the Romance Languages Department at Emory University (1971-77). In 1977, he became head of Romance and Classical Languages Department at University of Connecticut (1977-82) and Visiting Professor at Yale (1977). Recruited 1982 by Pres. Henry Koffler as first Dean of College of Humanities (1982-87), he returned to full-time teaching in Department of Spanish and Portuguese, retiring in 2018 after 42 years of service to University of Arizona. During this time, he especially enjoyed the company of his close colleagues Bob Fiore and Gianni Spera. In his 58 years in academia, Richard authored 13 books, more than 100 articles, reviews and papers, and directed dozens of Master theses and PhD dissertations. His academic affiliations included The Medieval Academy of America; Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences; Academy of American Research Historians on Medieval Spain; Medieval Association of the Pacific; and Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies. He received the Yale DeForest Prize in Spanish (1957); Spanish Government Fellowship for study in Madrid (1962-63); American Council of Learned Societies Grant (1974); NEH Research Fellowship (1978); John K. Walsh Award (2000) from the Modern Language Association Division on Medieval Spanish Language and Literature; “Order of Don Quixote” from Sigma Delta Pi National Spanish Honor Society (2000); Charles Julian Bishko Prize (2005) from Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies for Best Article on Medieval Iberian History published by a North American Scholar (2004). During his career, he served on numerous editorial boards and was a consultant for National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Education, and Division of Research Programs; Fulbright National Screening Committee and the Jacob Javits Fellowship Program. For many years, Richard enjoyed riding ATVs throughout Arizona with his son Jonathan, family and friends. He also loved boating and fishing on the Sea of Cortez in San Carlos, Mexico, where the family has a vacation home. He was an avid pilot since 1966, built his own plane with Jonathan, and enjoyed flying throughout the year with his buddies Mel Jordan, Peter Xu and Steve Wilson. He was a devoted, life-long member of Eckankar, the Path of Spiritual Freedom, which he shared with his friends Hugh Thompson and Roger Harwell; Rotary Club of Tucson (1983-2019); Graduate Club (1983-2019); Chi Psi Fraternity and the Hellenic Cultural Foundation. Celebration of life will likely occur in the months ahead. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Eckankar or the ALS Association. To ensure the health and safety of our community, we are following all guidelines set by local, state and CDC officials. If you are planning on attending a service, please contact the funeral home in advance, so that we can plan accordingly.