Albert E. Gates, North Texas regent from 1976 to 1983, died July 25, 2009. He attended Texas A&I and Texas A&M universities and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He was stationed at Williams Field in Arizona, then studied Italian at the University of California at Los Angeles before watching over Italian prisoners of war at Camp Perry in Ohio. He was a rancher, president of Espejo Corp. and director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the First Federal Savings & Loan in Laredo and the First National Bank of Carrizo Springs. He was instrumental in implementing a screwworm eradication program in Texas and Mexico. He and his wife enjoyed traveling on ranch tours around the country and the world.