Armand Yramategui (1923-1970) was a Texan naturalist. Educated as an electrical engineer at Rice Institute (today

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

), Yramategui developed an interest in nature and publicly advocated for conservation. He worked at the

Houston Museum of Natural Science The Houston Museum of Natural Science (abbreviated as HMNS) is a natural history museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, United States. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Societ ...

as a natural science teacher in 1963, then as curator at the Burke Baker Planetarium in 1965. In 1970, Yramategui was traveling to view a comet when he suffered a flat tire. He was robbed of his astronomy equipment and killed by a juvenile. After his death, the Department of Interior awarded Yramategui the Conservation Service Award, the highest honor that could be granted a non-employee. Pasadena City Council renamed Middle Bayou in the city after Yramategui ( Armand Bayou), and the

Armand Bayou Nature Center Armand Bayou Nature Center is an urban preserve located in Pasadena and southeast Houston between the Johnson Space Center and the Bayport Industrial District. The nature center is the largest urban wilderness preserve in the United States. The ...

was established there in 1974.

References

1923 births 1970 deaths American naturalists People murdered in Texas Male murder victims Rice University alumni 1970 murders in the United States People from Houston {{US-biologist-stub