Guy Rocha, a longtime Nevada archivist and historian known for his “myth-busting” newspaper columns and fierce advocacy for the truth, died on Thursday. He was 74.

Rocha died while in hospice care at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, his daughter, Victoria Rocha, said on Friday.

Guy Rocha played an integral role in revitalizing the Nevada State Archives, leading the state agency for 28 years before retiring in February 2009.

As a leading Nevada historian, Rocha worked with the Nevada Women’s History Project to install a statue of Sarah Winnemucca, a Northern Paiute writer and activist from the 1800s, in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall and wrote books about Nevada’s labor history, among other efforts.

Rocha’s fame revolved around his many public appearances speaking about Nevada’

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