Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo - Atlantis

Professor Cunchillos founded and gave shape to the fledgling Department of
Modern languages during the early stages in the creation of the University of La
Rioja. He then served as its first Head from 1992 to 1994 and then again from 1995 to
2000. He was the brain behind the first English Philology official academic
curriculum in La Rioja and its main driving force all through its implementation
process in the ensuing years. However, despite this impressive academic and
scientific record, those who knew Professor Carmelo Cunchillos will always stress his
personal influence on his disciples, his collaborators and his peers in academic and
scientific circles. Many would agree that Carmelo, our dear Carmelo, like his beloved
and deeply studied Don Quixote, was a Spanish “knight-errant” at heart. He was
noble, enterprising, and generous. He never feared the challenges of life. Nobody
who came to him for help went unheeded. With the same courage with which he
broke grounds for the coming generations in all his spheres of activity, he also faced
illness, suffering and pain, which beset him during his last years. Yet he never lost any
of his gentleness, his moral strength, his lucidity, and his zest for life. Very sadly,
Carmelo has left us, but many tender memories soften our grief.
Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez
Pedro Santana Martínez
University of La Rioja