Jorge Guitart

Jorge Guitart was a poet, painter, and linguistics professor who emigrated from Cuba to the U.S. in 1962. He obtained a B.A. in psychology from George Washington University in 1967 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Spanish linguistics from Georgetown University in 1970 and 1973. Since 1973, he had been a professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Buffalo. He is widely published in Spanish linguistics and published poetry in English and Spanish in the U.S, along with poetry in Spanish in Spain and Latin America. He also taught poetry workshops throughout Buffalo public schools for the past 11 years, and belongs to the Board of Directors of Just Buffalo Literary Center. Jorge's paintings appeared in the Cuban-American Artists from Western New York exhibit at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in 2005 and he had a solo show at Buffalo's El Museo in 2006.

Anderson, Dale. “Jorge Guitart, 88, UB professor of Spanish linguistics, poet.” The Buffalo News (November 9, 2025): B5. https://buffalonews.com/obituaries/features/article_68bc4ce6-799d-46ff-8e11-d7a878f6cf03.html

Jorge Guitart looked at the world from two perspectives.

There was his academic view as one of the leading figures in Spanish linguistics. And then there was his outlook as a well-regarded poet admired for his whimsical way with words.

“In general,” he told an interviewer for Buffalo Spree magazine in 2010, “people who know me as a scholar don’t know that I write poetry and the people in poetry don’t know I publish a lot in linguistics.”

He also had a double sensibility as an immigrant. He was deeply devoted to the culture of his native Cuba and he was equally passionate about the delights of Buffalo.

For decades, he was a regular part of literary and artistic programs that focused on Cuba and Latin America. Through the Latin Gallery in the 1980s, he collaborated with poets Alberto O. Cappas, Juan Gonzalez and Olga E. Karman in creating the enamel text on an installation of artwork in what was then the Allen-Hospital Metro Rail station.

An emeritus professor of Spanish linguistics at the University at Buffalo, he died Oct. 28 after a period of declining health. He was 88.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Jorge Miguel Guitart was the second of four children in a family of prominent educators. His father was a physics professor at the University of Havana and Cuban undersecretary of education. His mother was a biology teacher and his maternal grandmother established a leading school in Santiago, Cuba.

He developed a love of American culture as a boy. He became a lifelong New York Yankees fan and began learning English from Hollywood movies and hit songs of the day.

He studied to become a lawyer at the University of Havana until it shut down because of the Cuban Revolution. His family fled to the U.S. in 1962.

He first settled in New Orleans, but moved to Washington, D.C., within a few months. He mastered English as he attended classes full-time at George Washington University, majoring in psychology. He also worked full-time at an insurance company.

In 1967, he met a George Washington classmate, Sarah Dickinson, in a coffee shop. They were married in 1969.

“It was love at first sight,” she said. “It was very immediate. He wooed me with his stories. He was always a great storyteller.”

He came to UB right after earning a doctorate in 1973 from Georgetown University in Spanish and linguistics with a minor in literature. He published widely in journals and anthologies and wrote Spanish college textbooks. He lectured in Spain, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Finland and Cuba. Amy Graves Monroe, chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at UB, pointed out that he also made an impact through his work with his graduate students.

“He had students produce compelling dissertations that were sought after,” she said. “He produced Ph.D. graduates who went on to become professors in the field. Particularly in the 1990s, he was top dog.”

Noted for his prodigious memory as a boy, he impressed his students by learning their names before the first day of class. He continued teaching until January 2020, when he took emeritus status.

Mr. Guitart also taught poetry workshops for many years in Just Buffalo’s Poetry in the Schools program in elementary and high schools in Buffalo. He started producing poetry while taking an American literature course in Washington. Writing in Spanish and English, he was a prolific poet and was fond of parody and satire.

“Everybody should be bilingual,” he told News critic Richard Huntington in 1988. “It removes you from the language and lets you see how arbitrary language is.”

He published four books of poetry, “Foreigner’s Notebook” in 1993, “Film Blanc” in 1996, “The Empress of Frozen Custard & Ninety-Nine Other Poems” in 2010 and “Fragments of Fantastic Songs and 99 Other Poems” in 2023.

He also translated Cuban poets into English and American poets into Spanish. He was editor of Terra Poetica, a magazine of poetry in translation.

He appeared frequently at poetry readings and was featured in the final program of the long-running Gray Hair series in Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in 2016. His poems appeared in The News for 40 years.

“I’m always trying to subvert the language within the poem,” he told an interviewer in 2004.

“My poems are usually strange and they are not in search of any sublime thing. They’re just games.”

”He wasn’t looking for prominence from it,” his daughter Jenny Guitart said. “It was just the joy of sharing.”

He also was prolific as an artist up until his death. He started painting in Cuba, working in watercolors and acrylics and producing hundreds of drawings which showed the influence of artist Paul Klee. He was part of an exhibition of Cuban American artists at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in 2005 and was featured the following year in a solo show at Buffalo’s El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera entitled “Shallow Truths Glimpsed through Small Windows.”

He knew thousands of songs in English and Spanish and would regularly burst into a refrain. He also wrote songs. His tango, “Si Supieras,” is included in singer Elise Witt’s 2003 album “Love Being Here.”

In addition to his wife Sarah and daughter Jenny, survivors include a son, Nick Guitart; a sister, Vilma Robaina; two grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.