"He was a writer's writer", said a coleague, John Moran Gonzalez, a professor of American and English literature at the University of Texas at Austin. "Writing in two languages, experimenting with different genres of fiction, and having a sarcastic, cutting Texas Mexican wit make Hinojosa one of the most influential American writers in the late 20th century and early 21st century," Jaime Armin Mejia, an associate professor of English and Chicano literature at Texas State University, wrote in a chapter on Hinojosa-Smith for Enclopedia Britannica. He taught more than 60 years at all levels of education, 35 of them at UT Austin. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and used his experiences in his writing, including "Korean Love Songs."  "He was a prolific and award- winning author whose books had readers all over the world,"  Clarissa Hinojosa wrote on social media. "His writing made him a popular guest lecturer at universities across the Amwricas, in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia."  He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1969 and received the Alumni Achievement Award from the Illinois Alumni Association in 1998. "Like William Faulkner, Rolando has immortalized his 'little postage stamp of American soil' the borderlands of the Rio Grande Valley," Elizabeth Culliford, a professor and chair of the English department at UT Austin, said in 2013 when Hinojosa's award was announced.