Rudy died in Santa Fe Aug. 20, 2014.
He flourished for four decades as an executive specializing in food and consumer products south of the border and in the United States. In recent years, he was an eager volunteer at New Mexico’s Pecos National Historical Park, where excavations nearly a century ago brought nationwide attention to his grandfather, renowned archaeologist A.V. Kidder.
Raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala, he attended Noble and Greenough School in Massachusetts. He was Princeton’s freshman-soccer goalie, ate at Quad, and majored in Romance languages and literature.
In the 1970s, he was managing director at Quaker Oats in Brazil and ran the world’s largest sardine cannery. He then worked for Scott Paper in Mexico, leading the consumer-products division, and later worked in the U.S. as head of international business. In 1987, Rudy formed a management-consulting firm, doing business in Latin America.
“Rudy was very bright, charming, a worldly man who could handle himself in any situation and who brought joy to many people,” recalls high-school classmate Charles Castellani, who appointed Rudy best man at his 2013 wedding.
The class sends condolences to Rudy’s children, Barbara and David; his partner, Carolynn Hartley; former wife Martha; and three grandchildren.