Posted on Wed, Apr. 18, 2007

By LUISA YANEZ

Luis Bueno had an encyclopedic mind -- a treasure trove of topics that would spring forth miraculously to save someone who was stumped.

For decades, the ''razor-sharp minded'' Bueno served as The Miami Herald's chief archivist, helping a legion of reporters gather background information for their stories.

Bueno died at his Miami-Dade home on Tuesday of complications from emphysema. He was 82.

''He was a very elegant and refined man. I always called him Don Bueno,'' said Gay Nemeti, former Miami Herald library services editor. 'I never asked him how he was doing that he didn't answer back: `Never better!' ''

Born in 1925 in Santiago province to a well-to-do family, Bueno fled to the United States in 1960, a year after the Cuban revolution brought Fidel Castro to power.

BAY OF PIGS

Once in Miami, he joined thousands of countrymen who trained and then took part in the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, where he remained onboard the ships that carried the invaders, working as a translator. As with many other Cubans who made it back to Miami, the failed invasion cemented his life in exile.

A father of two daughters, Bueno gladly found work at The Miami Herald's library, where he stood out as an erudite gentleman who joyfully embraced his work.

At the newspaper, reporters and editors recalled him as the answer man who they would turn to when they needed information. His job was to keep current ''the morgue'' -- stacks and stacks of story clippings and photographs carefully culled and cataloged from the published newspaper.

In the 1970s, Bueno became head librarian, overseeing the clippings, preservation and cataloging of material. He remained at the job until the department moved to a digital system in the early 1980s. Bueno officially retired in 1994, but continued working part-time until recently.

''He always enjoyed library work. He said it kept him active and sharp,'' said Rafael Fernandez, a longtime friend and Miami Herald news archivist.

SAVED THE DAY

Even long after his retirement, the newspaper tapped Bueno's talents, said Sue Mullin, calendar editor.

''When The Herald was working on its centennial edition a few years ago, the best minds at the newspaper could not pin down when a descendant of the founding Knight brothers had worked at the Miami Herald as an intern,'' Mullin said.

``It was a historical tidbit that had tantalized [legendary Herald reporter and editor] Gene Miller for weeks.''

Mullin said there appeared to be no record that the young man, who was subsequently killed in Philadelphia, had ever been at The Miami Herald -- no byline file, no old photo, no payroll record. She said there was only a vague recollection by Miller, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who died in 2005.

Then someone asked Bueno. ''He remembered the byline and instantly recalled a story written by the young intern and its approximate date many decades earlier,'' Mullin said. ``He went to the microfilm file, fumbled with an ancient machine and promptly printed a copy of a story with the byline of the young Knight.''

It was a eureka moment for Miller. ''I'll be damned,'' he declared.

GREEN THUMB

Bueno's expertise extended beyond the file room. A longtime orchid grower, he fell in love with aroids in recent years and became an avid collector and fervent member of the International Aroid Society.

''Tours from Fairchild Tropical Garden would travel to his home to meander through his beautiful gardens and see his collection of exotic plants for which he won many awards,'' said one of his daughters, Mari Bueno-Smith.

Fine wine and cooking were other passions.

''He was known in the office for his homemade hummus and rum cake,'' Nemeti said.

Bueno is also survived by daughter Beatriz Bueno; sister Miriam Bueno-Paincera and grandson Dimitri.

Services will be private.