The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was saddened to learn of the death of IOC honorary member Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, who passed away yesterday at the age of 94.

An IOC member from 1972 to 1995, Mr Ramírez Vázquez was Chairman of the Cultural Commission (1980-1994) and a member of the following commissions: Information and Cultural (1973-1974), Administration of the Olympic Games (1973-1975), for Greece (1980-1981), Coordination for the Olympic Games (summer) (1988-1990), construction delegate (1990-1993). He became an IOC honorary member in 2005.

Mr Ramírez Vázquez was a Vice-President then President of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad in Mexico City in 1968 and President of the Mexican National Olympic Committee from 1972 to 1974.

An architecture graduate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico City, Mr Ramírez Vázquez enjoyed a successful career as an architect and was the author of numerous books that have been distributed worldwide. Considered the founder of modern Mexican architecture, Mr Ramírez Vázquez was also the architect of the IOC headquarters in Lausanne (1986), the IOC Pavilion at the Seville EXPO (1992) and The Olympic Museum in Lausanne (1993).

He was Rector of the University of Mexico City, Rector and Founder of the Metropolitan Autonomous University, and Minister of Human Settlements and Public Works (1976-1982). He was awarded the Olympiart Prize in 1996.

A lover of sport and long-time supporter of the Olympic Movement, Mr Ramírez Vázquez was a football player at university.

The IOC expresses its deepest sympathies to Pedro Ramírez Vázquez’s family.