David Fintz Altabé

David Fintz Altabé
Born	1929 New York City
Died	2008 Tampa, FL
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Scholar and poet

David Fintz Altabé (1929–2008), was an internationally known scholar and poet specializing in Judeo-Spanish literature and Sephardic culture. He served twice as President of the American Society of Sephardic Studies as well as Vice-President of the American Association of Jewish Friends of Turkey. He also was on the Sephardic Council of Overseers and taught Spanish at the City University of New York where he was honored as Professor Emeritus.

He was born in New York City to Sephardic parents of Turkish origin and died in November 2008.

Works authored

• Temas y Dialogos (1970).
• "The significance of 1492 to the Jews and Muslims of Spain.” Hispania (September 1992).
• Spanish and Portuguese Jewry Before and After 1492 (1993).
• Una Kozecha de Rimas i Konsejas: A Harvest of Rhymes and Folk-Tales. (2000).

As an editor:

• Altabé, David Fintz, Erhan Atay, and Israel J. Katz, eds. Studies on Turkish Jewish History: political and social relations, literature, and linguistics: the quincentennial papers. Brooklyn, NY: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1996.

Works translated

• Sadacca, Haim Vitali. Un Ramo de Poemas: A Bouquet of Poems. Translated by David Fintz Altabé. New York: Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture, 2009.
• Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo. Symphony of Love: Las Rimas. Translated by David Fintz Altabé and Joan Altabé. Long Beach, NY: Regina, 1974.

External links

• Guide to the David Fintz Altabé Papers at the American Sephardi Federation, New York.