The professor and academic Francisco Rico Manrique has died at the age of 81 in Sant Cugat del Vallès, the town where he lived. Born in Barcelona in 1942, the illustrious philologist had retired from academic life for a couple of years, due to a significant deterioration in his health.

Rico dedicated his literary passion to studying in depth the work of Miguel de Cervantes. As a result of this specialty, in which he became a reference, he was responsible for the critical edition of Don Quixote published by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) on the occasion of the fourth centenary of its publication.

It was in 1987 when he joined the learned corporation as a full academician, where he worked on multiple research projects.

In parallel, the Cervantist treasured multiple editions of the book that narrates the adventures of the knight-errant, which he gave to the UAB, a university where he was professor of Medieval Hispanic Literatures.