| Aktivitet | Composer, music critic, civil servant. Commander of the 4th Brigade of the Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War. He was brought to Dartington in September 1939 by friends of Dorothy and Leonard, shortly after his narrow escape from Spain after the surrender of the Republican Army. Although a pianist and composer by profession, Gustavo, through his courageous leadership, had by the end of the Civil War been made a Divisional Commander; he was greatly admired by many including Ernest Hemingway who wrote of him by name in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'. Whilst at Dartington, Gustavo met Bonte Crompton (Bin's sister) and he was prodded - none too gently - by Dorothy into what was to be a very happy marriage. Gustavo volunteered for the British Army but was turned down so he and Bonte left for New York where he worked initially as a broadcaster of Latin American music and later at the Museum of Modern Art. He became a US citizen in 1942 and through his work in the State Department he went to Cuba and then Brazil as adviser to the US Ambassador. Gustavo was an early victim of Senator McCarthy's anti-communist campaign, and although given full official clearance in 1946 when he joined the United Nations, McCarthy's relentless pursuit was hard for him to bear. For twenty three years Gustavo's varied work for the UN took him to Chile, the Congo and finally to Greece where he was head of the UN Development Program. After his death in 1969, at the age of sixty-two, he was buried in the Cretan village he loved and where he was loved in return. In spite of all his trials and tribulations Gustavo maintained a great zest for life and was the most civilised and cultured of men. |