Marysa Navarro was born in Pamplona, Spain, in 1934, and her early life was shaped by the Spanish Civil War and her family’s exile. After studying in Uruguay and earning her PhD at Columbia University, she joined Dartmouth College in 1968, where she championed coeducation and founded both the Women’s Studies Program and the Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies Program.
Originally trained as a political historian, she became a pioneering scholar of women and gender in Latin America, publishing influential works, including the landmark biography of Eva Perón (1981/1982), still considered the definitive account. Throughout her career she held leadership roles in major academic associations, received prestigious awards such as LASA’s Kalman Silvert Award, and was honored with a doctorate honoris causa from the Public University of Navarre.
Recognized as a cosmopolitan, antifascist, and charismatic intellectual, Marysa left a lasting impact on both scholarship and feminist activism.