Robert B. Sanz, 93; Language Instructor to Presidents

Robert Boisson Sanz, 93, who founded a language school in 1939 that provided training to thousands of government officials and who was known as "the professor" to presidents, died of congestive heart failure March 8 at his home in Washington.

The Sanz School of Languages, on New York Avenue within walking distance of the White House, taught as many as 82 languages to private businesses and several branches of the federal government for more than three decades. Members of the intelligence-gathering community, Defense, Agriculture and Labor departments, Internal Revenue Service and the Peace Corps took classes from Sanz instructors.

"Sanz was to the government what Berlitz was to the public," said Mr. Sanz's son, Robert L. Sanz of San Antonio.

In the 1940s, a former Sanz student, then-Vice President Henry Wallace, introduced Mr. Sanz to the White House and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There he came to be called "the professor," his son said.

Mr. Sanz later taught Spanish to presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy as they each grappled with the changing international landscape of their times.

A man of many talents, Mr. Sanz was the author of several language-instruction texts, including "Spanish for All" (1945), a bestseller that offered "a practical modern method for quick mastery."

In addition to being a linguist, he was an athlete, an engineer and a composer.

Mr. Sanz was born June 7, 1913, in Madrid. He excelled at the violin as a child and graduated from the city's Royal Conservatory of Music. He also received a civil engineering degree from the University of Madrid.

An accomplished soccer player, he played professionally for the famed club Real Madrid.

When the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, Mr. Sanz and his older brother, Luís, joined the monarchists' ranks and fought against opposing factions until their supply of ammunition was depleted. Escaping capture, Mr. Sanz and his brother secured passage on a freighter to Mexico. Using his civil engineering skills, Mr. Sanz worked with the railroad to survey a new route for the construction of a rail line within the Yucatan Peninsula.

The brothers later settled in New York City, where they taught Spanish for the Berlitz School. After a while, Mr. Sanz and his brother devised a method for teaching languages that they thought would help a student understand, remember and speak a language, his son said.

Mr. Sanz developed the Sanz System, based on the principles that teaching the fundamentals of grammar for a language, plus the vocabulary, would bring the ability to read, write, speak and think in the language.

Mr. Sanz, whose brother died in 1947, used those principles to teach advanced and specialized language training, in particular as a leading independent contractor to the Defense Department until the Defense Language Institute consolidated military language training in the 1960s.

Mr. Sanz's school also provided instruction in English to international students before it was sold in 1974.

A talented composer and no stranger to Tin Pan Alley musical traditions, Mr. Sanz wrote several works of contemporary music that were performed by such artists as Sammy Kaye and Desi Arnaz. His songs, some written with his wife, include "I Must Have More of This," "Lady In Black," "Don't Say: Sí, Sí," "Please Believe" and "Alone With You."

Mr. Sanz joined Congressional Country Club in 1947, eventually becoming one of the club's longest-standing members. He and his wife entertained dignitaries from around the world at the club.

His wife, Elaine Terry Boughner Sanz, whom he married in 1939, died in 1988. His daughter, Elaine Sanz Engels, died in 1988.

In addition to his son, survivors include three grandchildren.