Cuban Academic Manuel Marques Sterling Dies in New Hampshire

May 2, 2022

Cuban academic Manuel Márquez Sterling Domínguez passed away on April 23rd at the age of 90, in Plymouth, New Hampshire, where he had resided for decades.

"Death always surprises us painfully. Manuel was a great husband and father of three daughters, who suffered the pain of losing the eldest. He was a scholar of Medieval History, opera and baseball. He felt very proud of his surname and loved Cuba as much as he detested communism," declared in Miami writer and academic Uva de Aragón, who considered him her brother.

The professor, born in Havana in 1931, graduated with a degree in Law from the capital's Alma Mater. Following the Castros' rise to power, the academic went into exile with his family in the United States, where he developed an extensive teaching career. He was Professor Emeritus of Plymouth State University, where he taught for several decades.

Márquez Sterling published several novels such as "Hondo Corre el Cauto" and "La Cúpula", as well as the historical essay "Cuba 1952-1959 The True Story of Castro's Rise to Power".

He also collaborated with his father, Cuban intellectual and politician Carlos Márquez Sterling, in the development of the volume "Historia de la Isla de Cuba", and compiled part of his father's correspondence in another book, "Memorias de un Estadista".

A lover of opera and baseball, Márquez Sterling often gave lectures on these subjects at various universities across the country. Also on the contemporary history of his native country.

He is survived by his widow, Gloria Sánchez Márquez Sterling; his daughters, Carolina and Loli Márquez Sterling; his grandson, Nicholas Tanner; his nephews, Carlos and Guillermo Márquez Sterling, and his sisters Lucía A. Pérez, Uva de Aragón and Gloria A. Baker. His eldest daughter, Gloria Victoria Márquez Sterling Tanner, had passed away in 2020.

His grandfather, Manuel Márquez Sterling, was a combatant in the war of independence against Spain, journalist, politician and diplomat. He was president of Cuba for six hours, on January 18, 1934, repealed the Platt Amendment and was ambassador to the United States.