It has just come to my attention that historian David Bushnell, who studied and wrote about Colombia.  Indeed, as an obituary in El Tiempo notes, he could be called the “Father of Colomianists” as he was one of first Americans to study Colombia.

His 1993 book, Colombia:  A Nation in Spite of Itself is arguably the definitive political history of Colombia.

Bushnell died due to complications from cancer, according to press reports.

Bushnell’s significance to Colombia (which he first visited in 1948) is underscored by the fact that El Tiempo (Colombia’s most important daily) and El Espectador (another major Bogotá daily) and El Heraldo (a major regional paper) have all run obituaries on Bushnell.  I cannot, however, find one in English.