GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — A small private liberal arts college in Iowa has established an endowment fund in memory of a young alumnus who was also a news intern for The Associated Press when he died at age 22 in Mexico City in 2012.
Grinnell College announced Thursday night it’s honoring Armando Montano’s passion for writing through the creation of a fund in his name that supports multiple initiatives at the school. It will include a popular visiting writers program and the student newspaper, where Montano contributed stories before graduating in 2012.
A college spokesman says the family requested that the size of the fund not be released.
Montano, who grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, arrived in Mexico City to work for AP shortly after leaving Grinnell College with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a concentration in Latin American studies.
His body was found in June 2012 in the elevator shaft of an apartment building near his home. The investigation into the circumstances of his death remains open.
His work for the news cooperative included coverage of African elephants being flown to a Mexican animal reserve and assisting in reporting about the fatal shootings of three federal policemen at the Mexico City airport.
Montano’s parents created the fund through a bequest to the college of about 1,600 students in the small community of Grinnell, about 50 miles east of Des Moines.
“His passion, his ability to understand and learn, and his drive to write and report are what we celebrate with this fund,” his parents said in a statement.
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