Noberto James Rawlings, RS Alumnus & Poet, Passes Away
Noberto James Rawlings, prominent Dominican poet and alumnus of the Romance Studies Department, died earlier this year after a 15 year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Born to a poor family in the Dominican Republic in 1945, Noberto persevered in his studies despite considerable challenges, graduating from High School, going to college, and eventually earning his doctorate at Boston University in 1992, under the guidance of James Iffland.
Noberto’s genesis as a writer of poetry came, however, not during his academic studies but while fighting in the Dominican Civil War, in 1965. During the war, Noberto read a poem he had written to his fellow soldiers and the were so impressed by it that he began to consider writing a book of poetry – resulting four years later in the publication of his first poetry collection, Sobre La Marcha. That first book of poetry was followed by six more over his lifetime.
After earning his doctorate, he taught at a number of institutions in the Boston area, ending his career at the Boston Latin School, where he helped prepare students with limited resources for academic studies at prestigious universities.
Noberto was remembered yesterday (April 27) in a tribute to him organized by Hostos Community College (Part of CUNY), in New York City.