Dear Rice colleagues,
I’m writing to share the sad news that beloved economics professor emeritus Dagobert “Bob” L. Brito, died Sept. 16 in Mexico, where he was born and had returned to live after his wife’s death. Bob’s family described his life as the kind most of us aspire to: “long, interesting and wonderfully full.”
Bob served in the U.S. Army in Thailand and then earned his bachelor’s in 1967 and master’s and doctoral degrees in 1970 all in economics from Rice. Before he joined the Rice faculty, he taught at Tulane, Ohio State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He cared deeply about his students and teaching, which led Rice to establish the Dagobert L. Brito Award, honoring outstanding performance by a recitation instructor in the Department of Economics. The award is a reflection of his belief that teaching and encouraging students were among the most important parts of a professor’s work.
Bob’s expertise was in public economics, economic theory, energy economics, economics of arms control and political science. His research interests included optimal tax theory, the economics of defense, energy economics and technical change and the distribution of income. He also served as a faculty scholar in international economics at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He was published in numerous academic journals, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of Economic Theory and the International Economic Review. In 1987, he served as a visiting professor at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México under sponsorship from the U.S. Fulbright Program.
When he wasn’t working, Bob and his wife, Patricia, enjoyed traveling, entertaining friends, and creating a life filled with conversation, laughter and curiosity. They were married for more than 50 years before her death in 2021. Bob lived with his sister in Metepec and spent his final day watching the Mexican Independence Day parade.
I invite you to read more about Bob’s life in Rice News.
Amy Dittmar, Howard R. Hughs Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs