Remembering Mark Fernandez

The Loyola University New Orleans community mourns the loss of beloved history professor and colleague, Dr. Mark Fernandez. Dr. Fernandez passed away on Tuesday, March 31, after a long and courageous fight with brain cancer. He was 67 years old.

Dr. Fernandez received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of New Orleans and his Ph.D. from The College of William and Mary in Virginia. He joined the faculty at Loyola University New Orleans in 1992, where he spent over three decades as a beloved and award-winning professor. Among his many honors, he received Loyola's highest distinction, the 2010 Dux Academicus award, was named the Patricia Carlin O'Keefe Distinguished Professor of History, and received the Louisiana Historical Association's Garney McGinty Lifetime Service Award in 2023. His scholarship, particularly From Chaos to Continuity: Evolution of Louisiana's Judicial System, 1712-1862, earned the Louisiana Literary Award from the Louisiana Library Association. In 2012, he was named the Seventh Annual Woody Guthrie Fellow by the Woody Guthrie Foundation and BMI Music Publishers, a recognition that spoke to the breadth of his curiosity and passion for American culture and folk tradition. In 2024, he was awarded the Eastman Residency for the Arts and Humanities.

Equally at home in the classroom and on stage, Dr. Fernandez was a guitarist at heart, playing classics and original songs at venues across the city, including the Neutral Ground, the Maple Leaf, Chickie Wah Wah, NOLA Brewery, Seither's Seafood, and many others. In recent years, he found his home on Sunday nights at the legendary Le Bon Temps Roule on Magazine Street, playing weekly with the Bon Temps Boys under the direction of Lo Faber.

Dr. Fernandez is survived by his wife, Dione Ezell Fernandez; his son, Wesley Fernandez (Kristen); his grandchildren Logan, Mia, and Alexis; his brother Barry Fernandez (Sarah); his sister Cindy Francis; and his beloved nieces and nephews.