Antônio Martins Filho (22 December 1904,
Crato, Brazil – 20 December 2002,
Fortaleza
Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...
, Brazil) was a Brazilian
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...
. One of the most eminent promoters of the founding of the first university in Ceará, he became the chancellor of that institution, which is now known as the
Federal University of Ceará
The Federal University of Ceará (, UFC) is a federal university with campuses in the cities of Fortaleza, Sobral, Russas, Quixadá, Crateús and Itapajé, in the state of Ceará, Brazil. UFC is a public and tuition-free university, with sev ...
, when it was established in 1954.
Biography
In 1948, he took the lead in the process of creating the former
University of Ceará, now known as UFC. The university was finally established in 1954 and inaugurated in 1955. Until 1967, Martins Filho served as the Chancellor and continued to develop the university's infrastructure, establishing the University Press, acquiring the current Chancellor's Office building and the Casa de José de Alencar, and creating conditions for the university's continued growth.
He retired in 1974 but also founded the
State University of Ceará
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
– UECE in 1977 and the
Regional University of Cariri – URCA in 1986. He was a member of the National Education Council in the 1960s, remaining on the council for 13 years. He represented Brazil at the
OAS in the Latin American Committee for the Evaluation of Scholarship Systems. He contributed to the founding of over 20 Brazilian universities.
He was the brother of the writer and jurist
Fran Martins, one of the most prominent scholars of Commercial Law in Brazil in the 20th century. Fran Martins was a Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Ceará and an important member of the modernist movement in Ceará's literature during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He had an extensive body of work and was a founding member of the Clã Group.
Martins Filho was admitted to the
Order of Military Merit in 1994 as a special Officer by President
Itamar Franco
Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco (; 28 June 19302 July 2011) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 33rd president of Brazil from 29 December 1992 to 1 January 1995. Previously, he was the 21st vice president of Brazil from 1990 until the ...
. He was promoted to the rank of Commander by
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...
in 2000.
He passed away in Fortaleza on December 20, 2002, just two days before his 98th birthday, due to multiple organ failure.
Works
* ''A presença da poesia no mundo dos negócios'' (1978)
* ''Três anos de FUNEDUCE: subsídios para a história da Universidade Estadual do Ceará'' (1979)
* ''Autonomia das universidades federais'' (1980)
* ''Historia abreviada da UFC: 1944 a 1967'' (1996)
Tributes
* Several streets across Brazil bear his name.
* Schools named in his honor.
* A viaduct in Fortaleza bears his name as a form of homage.
* The
URCA
Urca is a residential neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a population of nearly 7,000. Although most of the neighborhood dates from the 1920s, parts of it are much older. What is now called the Fortaleza de São João (Rio de Janeiro), F ...
, Regional University of Cariri, established the Antônio Martins Filho Merit Medal, an award created in 2003 to honor institutions and personalities who have contributed to the development of culture and the promotion of regional values.
* The
UECE, in 2003, established the Reitor Antônio Martins Filho Merit Medal, which encompasses five categories: Scientific, Cultural, Administrative, Institutional, and Educational.
* The
OAB-CE, in 2010, created the Professor Lawyer Standard Antonio Martins Filho Medal, awarded to lawyers for their work in the legal profession and in Ceará's teaching field.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martins Filho, Antônio
1904 births
2002 deaths
Brazilian lawyers
People from Crato, Ceará