Edward Holmead "Ed" Harte

In 1962, Ed Harte, the publisher of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, led an effort to designate 67 miles of Padre Island as a national seashore, protecting the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world. During the early 1970s, Ed Harte spearheaded a campaign to protect nearly 4000 acres of Mustang Island as a state park. In the year 2000, he endowed the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, leaving a lasting legacy for marine research and conservation.