Benítez, Jaime

Benítez, Jaime

(1908–  ) educator; born in Vieques, Puerto Rico. He served as chancellor (1941–56) and president (1966–72) of the University of Puerto Rico and as the island's resident commissioner in Washington (1972–76). He was widely credited with finding university positions for scholars who were refugees first from Franco and later from Hitler and other dictators. Thereafter, he brought such distinguished guests as Nobel laureates Juan Ramón Jiménez and Saul Bellow to the university, where he was a strong voice for academic excellence.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.