Laredo mourned the loss of Radcliffe Killam, a driving force of higher education in Laredo, on Sept. 8.
According to University President Ray Keck, Killam was “warm and modest…impatient for progress and proud of the heritage and people of Laredo.”
Hubert Humphrey once said, “There are incalculable resources in the human spirit once it has been set free.”
Similarly, by promoting higher education, Killam released the “resources” of the Laredo human spirit.
Keck said, “Killam believed the opportunity today’s students enjoy is the most important factor in building a future for South Texas.”
Killam was among the voices that insisted on a four-year university for Laredo because, as Keck noted, he was “a tremendously educated man whose penetrating eyes looked to the future and all the things that were coming because of the university.”
In 1970 Texas A&I University, then located on the Laredo Junior College campus, was instituted, and in 1977 it became Laredo State University.
In the 1990s the Killam family donated the 300 acres that are now the home of TAMIU.
“This university,” Killam said, “the newest and most modern of campuses, has by reason of its location an unprecedented opportunity. It is the only university with the word ‘International’ incorporated in its name.”
Keck also recalls Killam saying that “the founding of this university is the most important thing that happened in the twentieth century in Laredo.”
“Our last conversation was about looking forward and planning for the future,” said Keck.
Killam’s vision for TAMIU included more diversity as a tool for progress.
“[Killam] wanted to see new people and new ideas come to Laredo,” said Keck, “and he saw the university as the vehicle for that. He had confidence in the ability of our students to change the world if they had the education.”