The Russell Sage Foundation mourns the passing of trailblazing demographer and sociologist Richard Alba on June 4, 2025, at the age of 82. His research focused on immigrant assimilation and challenged traditional ideas of how immigrants assimilate into and impact U.S. culture. Alba’s work showed that descendants of immigrants largely become integrated into mainstream society in the U.S. and Western Europe, as opposed to remaining segregated from it.
Richard Alba was Distinguished Professor Emeritus (sociology and Africana studies) at the CUNY Graduate Center. He also a member of the Graduate Center’s Center for Urban Research and served as its acting director during the 2011-12 academic year. Prior to joining the Graduate Center in 2008, Alba taught at the University at Albany, SUNY, Cornell University, and Lehman College. Alba received his B.A. in 1963 and his Ph.D. in 1974, both from Columbia University. Alba wrote and edited 14 books, including the award-winning Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration (with Victor Nee), The Great Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream, and Blurring the Color Line. He also wrote numerous journal articles and book chapters, often in collaboration with other scholars. Alba was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to receiving fellowships from Russell Sage, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and fellowships from Stanford University and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He served as president of the Eastern Sociological Society (1997-98), vice president of the American Sociological Association (2000-01), and chaired the International Migration section of the American Sociological Association (1995-96).
Alba was an RSF visiting scholar during the 1998-99 and 2014-15 academic years, a contributing author to RSF volumes The Changing Face of World Cities, Not Just Black and White, Immigration and Opportunity, Handbook of International Migration, and The Two New Yorks, and a recipient of multiple RSF research grants.
The foundation extends its deepest sympathies to Alba’s family and friends for their loss.