Esther M Pacheco (1938-2022), former director of the Ateneo University Press

ESTHER M. PACHECO

2 October 1938 — 1 February 2022

The Ateneo de Manila University Press mourns the passing of Ms. Esther M. Pacheco, former Director of the Press from 1972 to 2003. She passed away on 1 February 2022, at 1:06 AM from complications of pneumonia that led to multi-organ failure.

For several decades, Esther Pacheco oversaw the operations of the Ateneo Press and slowly built it to become a University Press respected by Filipino and foreign scholars for consistently coming out with books that tackled issues in a number of disciplines--literature and criticism, history, political science, religion, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and arts and culture. The works of such scholars as Reynaldo C. Ileto, Resil Mojares, Vicente Rafael, Filomeno V. Aguilar, Patricio Abinales, William Henry Scott, Alfred McCoy, Michael Cullinane, Paul Hutchcroft, John Sidel, Paul Kramer, among others, have contributed to the existing body of knowledge in Philippine Studies.  

It was also through the unrelenting efforts of Esther Pacheco that both primary and secondary materials on Philippine Literature were made available to the readers. As Press Director, she understood the key role of the university press to retrieve long-forgotten texts and make them useful to the present.

In the 1980s, together with Nicanor  G.Tiongson (University of the Philippines Press), Isagani Cruz  (De La Salle University Press), and Soledad S. Reyes (Ateneo de Manila University Press), Esther Pacheco spearheaded the Panitikan series. Its objective was to make literary classics in the vernacular available to the present generation. Thus, the work of such key figures as Faustino Aguilar, Inigo Ed. Regalado, Servando de los Angeles, Lazaro Frncisco, Edgardo Reyes, to name a few, emerged as examples of canonical writing.

Further, Esther Pacheco made sure that critical works that plotted the emergence and development of various genres--poetry, drama, novel, and short story--were crucial to contextualize the rise of the genres. An important but often marginalized aspect of this body of writing were texts written by female writers.  

As part of her advocacy, Esther Pacheco worked hard to rediscover the richness of the works of Liwayway Arceo, Angela Manalang Gloria, Paz Marquez Benitez, Genoveva Edroza-Matute, Rosario de Guzman Lingat,  Rosario Jose, among others. The Ateneo Press also published the critical works of Doreen Fernandez, Edna Manlapaz, Soledad S. Reyes, Cristina P. Hidalgo, to name a few.

After retirement, Esther Pacheco remained a welcome fixture in the University's socio-intellectual life--lectures and conferences, book launching, commemorative rites, and ceremonies.  Always fighting for a cause, she was a solid voice for such issues as gender inequality, environmental concerns, anti-corruption, among others.

Always intense and fiercely passionate, Esther Pacheco almost always managed to create a space for herself in various advocacy groups, to speak as a woman with a clear vision of a better future for all.

This year, on the 50th anniversary of the Ateneo Press, we honor her indomitable founding spirit. We bid her love and grace on her journey back to the Father.

She is survived by her two children, Kathleen and Michael. Wake and novena masses schedule will be announced later.