H.R. No. 2651
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The State of Texas lost an admired leader in health
care and higher education with the death of former University of
Texas System regent Dr. Mario E. Ramirez of Rio Grande City on May
22, 2017, at the age of 91; and
WHEREAS, Born in Roma on April 3, 1926, to Efren and Maria del
Carmen Ramirez, Mario Ramirez attended The University of Texas at
Austin before accepting early enrollment in the University of
Tennessee School of Medicine; he graduated in 1948, and while
completing his residency at Shreveport Charity Hospital, he met the
love of his life, Sarah Aycock, then a student nurse; they married
in 1949 and eventually became the parents of five children, Mario,
Patricia, Norman, Jaime, and Roberto; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Ramirez founded Roma's first family practice
clinic with his wife in 1950; after serving in Japan as a U.S. Air
Force physician for two years, he returned to Starr County and
established its first hospital in 1958; he made daily house calls
over a 50-mile radius and treated many patients who could not afford
to pay; in the wake of Hurricane Beulah, as the county's public
health service director, he led the relief effort for nearly 14,000
refugees; he and one other physician took care of all their health
emergencies for two days before outside help arrived; and
WHEREAS, Over the course of a half century in family
medicine, Dr. Ramirez cared for countless people and delivered
thousands of babies; he also took on numerous leadership roles in
order to address the needs of medically underserved populations; in
1969, he was appointed Starr County judge, and during a tenure that
spanned nine years, he was instrumental in the creation of a
hospital taxation district and the construction of Starr County
Memorial Hospital in Rio Grande City; he was appointed to the
development board of the UT Medical Branch in Galveston in 1974, and
he mentored a host of physicians as an assistant professor at both
the Houston and San Antonio campuses of the UT Medical School; from
1989 to 1995, as a member of the UT Board of Regents, he championed
education in the Rio Grande Valley and worked to address health care
disparities, paving the way for the establishment of a medical
school in the region; he served from 1995 to 2007 as vice president
for South Texas programs of the UT Health Science Center at San
Antonio, and in that role, he developed the Med Ed Program, which
has prepared a host of high school students in the Valley and Laredo
for careers in health science; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Ramirez was the first Hispanic elected
president of the Texas Medical Association, and he further served
as president of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians; on the
national level, he was a member of the National Health Advisory
Council, the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Professions, and the board
of regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health
Sciences; among myriad accolades, he received the Bicentennial
Benjamin Rush Award for Citizenship and Community Service from the
American Medical Association, the Family Doctor of the Year Award
from the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the
Distinguished Alumnus Award from UT Austin; and
WHEREAS, Mario Ramirez made a tremendous impact in South
Texas and beyond as a physician, a public servant, and a tireless
champion of health care access for all, and his remarkable legacy
will continue to resonate in the years to come; now, therefore, be
it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Dr. Mario E. Ramirez
and extend sincere condolences to all who mourn his passing; and, be
it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Dr. Mario
E. Ramirez.
Guerra
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 2651 was unanimously adopted by a
rising vote of the House on May 28, 2017.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House