For those of you that may have known him, I just learned that Dr. Ricardo Szmetan, originally from Barbados, passed away on December 31, 2010.
Ricardo had a PhD in Latin American Studies and recently completed a MS in Library Sciences at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. He was also a FIDE Master.
I’m sorry to hear of the loss of a fine fellow Illini.
I’m sorry to hear of Ricardo’s passing. He was active in Pittsburgh in the mid-80s. I believe he was originally from Argentina.
Ricardo Szmetan’s email on ICC was argentino10000@yahoo.com. Jorge Szmetan, who played RJF in 1971 and is very much alive, is also Argentinian: don’t know if they were related.
I believe that Ricardo had a brother who was an IM. Most likely that is Jorge.
An obit was published on the Illinois Chess Association website.