We mourn the passing of the great historian Stanley J. Stein, the Walter Samuel Carpenter III Professor in Spanish Civilization and Culture, emeritus, and Professor of History, emeritus, and a most wonderful supporter and friend of the Brazil LAB.

Stein wrote extensively on Latin American economic and social history. He is the author of the classic Vassouras: A Brazilian Coffee County, 1850-1900 (The Roles of Planter and Slave in a Plantation Society), first published in 1957, with numerous US and Brazilian editions. A visionary fieldworker, in the late 1940s the young Stanley Stein recorded jongo songs from descendants of enslaved people in Brazil, thus helping to create a rare archive of the African diasporic oral history, agency, and creativity.

Stanley Stein also authored Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789 (2003) and Edge of Crisis: War and Trade in the Spanish Atlantic, 1789-1808 (2009). Together with his partner Barbara Stein, he published The Colonial Heritage of Latin America: Essays on Economic Dependence in Perspective (1970).

A champion of Latin American Studies at Princeton, Stanley Stein was appointed as the first director of the Program in Latin American Studies in 1967. Ever curious and generous with time, Stanley was a constant presence in all Latin America and Brazil-related events on campus, always asking probing questions and deeply engaging faculty, students, and visitors. He has been a sustained intellectual and moral compass for many of us and remains an endless source of inspiration.

Lilia M. Schwarcz, Princeton Visiting Professor and a close friend of Stanley Stein, published a moving report on his passing in Folha de S.Paulo. 

A spring memorial service is being planned and we will publish additional information when it becomes available.

These are some photos of Stanley Stein in various Brazil LAB, PLAS, and SPO events.