“I do not know why Bob Segre was so generous to me. I know I am incredibly lucky. One of the most brilliant and impatient minds I have ever met, he would devote his Sundays to take me to see some of the hidden gems of Rio, or of Niteroi, the neighboring city where he lived, when I visited Rio. So hidden were these gems that they would not even figure in his all-encompassing books, forever classics of Latin American architecture and urbanism. He once invited me to his humble apartment to meet his wife Conchita. They lived cramped among Segre’s million books and multi-million architectural slide collection, probably the most complete historical account in the world of Latin American architecture.  Courageous and cynic to death, he was the subject of many scandals. He would write some of the most complete accounts of Oscar Niemeyer’s works and yet publish an essay the day the architect turned 100 years old entitled “100 years of solitude.” He would also ask Fidel Castro why he had not read his books at the time he was receiving an honor from him. With an incredibly fascinating life story, and having survived several life-threatening situations in different countries, it is mind-blowingly ironic that he would pass in a motorcycle accident. He was clearly one of a kind, and the world is all the poorer after his passing.”  Clara Irazábal    –       Director of the Latin Lab, http://www.arch.columbia.edu/labs/latin-lab Assistant Professor of Urban Planning  –  Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation     –  400 Avery Hall, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue   –  Columbia University –  New York,New York 10027 – USA