Méndez Pereira, Octavio (1887–1954)

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Méndez Pereira, Octavio (1887–1954)

Octavio Méndez Pereira (b. 1887; d. 1954), prominent Panamanian educator. He was born in Aguadulce and graduated from the University of Chile in 1913. He taught at and was president of the National Institute, served as minister of education, and became the first president of the University of Panama when it was founded in 1935. Méndez Pereira founded numerous schools and learned journals. He published essays on literature, education, and a variety of historical subjects. He wrote biographies of Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Justo Arosemena, and he founded the Panamanian Academy of Language and the Panamanian Academy of History.

See alsoPanama .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jorge Conte Porras, Panameños ilustres (1978).

Additional Bibliography

Arosemena Jáen, Roberto. Prisma de una república: Biografía de Octavio Méndez Pereira. Panama [?]: Ecssa, 1983.

                                  Juan Manuel PÉrez

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