PROFESSOR STEPHEN T. ZAMORA: A VISIONARY AND GENEROUS SOUL.

• Author: Escribano, Alfonso Lopez de la Osa
• Position: University of Houston Law Center professor - Testimonial

1. PROFESSOR ZAMORA: A VISIONARY II. PROFESSOR ZAMORA: A GENEROUS SOUL On July 8, 2016, Professor Stephen T. Zamora suddenly passed away in Mexico City. His good health, active lifestyle, and clear mind never gave the slightest sign of such a terrible event. He died "con las botas puestas"--with his boots on, as the Spanish idiom has it. He was full of energy and had many projects in progress. (1)

   Professor Zamora was the Leonard B. Rosenberg Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, which he joined in 1978. An international authority in his field, he received the Decoration of the Order of the Aztec Eagle Award from the Mexican Government in 2006--the Mexican government's highest award given to a foreign national in recognition of his dedication to Mexican law, education, and the promotion of U.S. and Mexican cooperation.

   Professor Zamora's paternal family originated from the Spanish Basque in a fishing village known as Lekeitio, which is a province of Biscay in Spain. Emigrating to the U.S., the Zamora family settled in Los Angeles, California, where Professor Zamora was born in 1944. He was the second of seven children and always remained close to his family in California. He also constantly maintained his bonds with his cousins in Spain--whom he often visited--feeling proud of his Hispanic-Basque origins; pride that he projected in his beloved Mexico.

   Professor Zamora was fascinated by Mexico and its complex history and society--especially by Mexico City, also known as the City of the Palaces, with its rich pre-Hispanic and colonial culture. (2) He particularly loved the plaza and iglesia of San Jacinto in San Angel, a neighborhood in the southern part of Mexico City where his remains are today, and where, for twenty years, Professor Zamora and his wife had an apartment they loved. To walk the area of San Angel, with its ancestral cobblestone streets and colonial buildings, beautifully preserved in the middle of frantic Mexico City, is like being tele-transported in time to the Mexican past. Just as Professor Zamora was proud of his Spanish roots and an admirer of ancient cultures and popular traditions, he was also immersed in modern Mexico. San Angel was the perfect spot for him, replete with historical echoes and family memories, his beloved wife Lois, his children, and friends.

   Professor Zamora enjoyed spending time with his friends at the Chapel of the Capuchinas near San Angel, a chapel designed by the Mexican architect Luis Barragan that truly is an architectural gem and was designated by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. This chapel may also be said to reflect Professor Zamora himself. The set of lights is amazing: light enters the chapel from above and mixes golden and red shadings on the walls, creating an imposing effect in a space of pure light and line. (3) So, too, Professor Zamora's personality was imposing but clear, radiating a charismatic aura that inspired students, colleagues, and friends to share his vision of international understanding and cooperation.

1. PROFESSOR ZAMORA: A VISIONARY

   A visionary is a person with the capacity to project himself or herself into the future, to foresee possibilities with broadmindedness and intelligence. (4) Such a person intuits what needs to be done, what can be done, and how to do it. Professor Zamora was a visionary, and also a realist. He knew what steps had to be taken, day by day, year by year, to realize his vision: "lo cortes no quita lo valiente," or, "courtesy detracts not from bravery," as we have it in Spanish. Actually, this popular saying very well could illustrate another of Professor Zamora's character traits: He constantly combined courtesy and bravery, kindness, and expertise. His colleagues at the Law Center and in Houston's legal community remember this characteristic in particular: "he didn't even know how to be unkind"; (5) he was enthusiastic, listened to students and "offered them a helping hand whenever he could"; (6) "he was always natural, genuine, and never pretentious." (7)

   Professor Zamora's fields of expertise were international trade and investments, international banking, conflicts of laws, international economic relations, Mexican law, and...