By IANS
Huelva (Spain) : Spanish writer Odon Betanzos has died in New York, the head of the author’s foundation told Spanish news agency EFE. He was 82.
Antonio Ramirez said Betanzos died Monday morning at a hospital following a combination of a variety of ailments in recent years.
Among his works were anthologies like “Santidad y guerreria”, “Hombre de luz”, “La mano universal”, “Poemas el hombre y las desolaciones” and “De ese Dios de las totalidades” as well as the novel “Dios dado de alto” about the Spanish Civil War.
Betanzos, who was born in the southern Spanish town of Rociana del Condado and headed the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, had never recovered fully after he had a heart surgery two years ago.
“He was recovering and had not stopped working as head of the academy or fulfilling his professional commitments,” Ramirez said.
In the summer of 2006, Betanzos had surgery for intestinal bleeding, and when he visited his hometown this year, he “weighed about 30 kg less and his condition had worsened,” Ramirez said.
On Sep 4, the writer returned to New York, where he lived, despite his colleagues urging him to stay in Huelva until he recovered fully.
Betanzos’s body will be flown to Spain for burial in his hometown.
Betanzos, who had a doctorate in literature and taught at New York University, was a member of Spain’s Royal Academy of the Spanish Language and the Hispanic Society of America, and was president of the Hispanic Culture Foundation.