Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Heitor Martins, 92, Emeritus Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Indiana University, died on February 8, 2026, in Cottonwood, Arizona. He is survived by his wife, Marlene Martins, daughters Emília Martins, Luzia Martins Rifkowitz, Vânia Castro, Vera Castro Lingl, and Valeria DeCastro, as well as grandchildren Gabriel Martins, Noah Rifkowitz, Anita DeCastro, Luna DeCastro, Sascha Castro Lingl, Daphne Castro Lingl, Nina Castro-Sauer, and Lia Castro-Sauer. He is also survived by sisters Célia Pereira Martins, Nilza Diaz Ramos Martins, Eunice Duarte Martins, and their families, all of whom live in Brazil.
After completing a PhD in 1962 at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Heitor taught as an assistant professor at Tulane University. In 1968, he accepted a full professor position at Indiana, where he built one of the country’s premiere undergraduate and graduate programs in Portuguese. A specialist in colonial and nineteenth-century poetry, he developed and taught courses on every century and genre of Portuguese, Brazilian and Lusophone-African literatures, and introduced Afro-Hispanic studies into the curriculum. A consummate academic, Heitor published several books and critical editions during his career as well as close to 100 articles covering a breathtaking range of subjects from medieval literature to twentieth-century topics. For the benefit of his colleagues and students, he also invited to Indiana some of the profession’s most prominent researchers, writers and teachers. Many of those invited came as part of the annual “Brazil Week” celebration, which he and his wife, Marlene Martins, initiated in 1989 and oversaw until his retirement in 1997.
Heitor served as Chair of Spanish and Portuguese (1972-1976) and Director of the Portuguese program (1968-1979) and was a longtime supporter of the Office of Overseas Studies, directing Indiana’s program in Mexico City and the CIC-sponsored program in Guanajuato. Following his retirement, a week-long international conference was held in his honor at Indiana, followed by the publication of a Festschrift titled Studies in Honor of Heitor Martins, edited by his long-term colleague, Darlene J. Sadlier, with fifteen essays by former students and colleagues. He remained an active participant in the Portuguese program for many years, with new colleagues and students gaining from his deep knowledge and expertise. On one of his last trips to Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, he appeared live on YouTube in a long interview about his career conducted by the President of the prestigious Minas Gerais Academy of Letters. One of Heitor’s most important contributions to Indiana University can be found in the Herman B Wells and Lilly Libraries which, as a direct result of his influence, hard work and generous donations, house some of the finest editions and largest collections of books in Portuguese.
There will be no funeral service, but a celebration of Heitor’s life will be planned for a later date.