Professor Miguel Urabayen passed away on January 3 in Pamplona at the age of 91. Urabayen, who was a professor at School of Communication at the University of Navarra from 1970 until his retirement in 1997, was the precursor of visual journalism and infographics, which were incorporated by his hand at Study program with the subject 'Cultura de la imagen periodística'. In addition, Miguel Urabayen was one of the promoters of the Malofiej Infographics Awards, which were born in 1993, and one of whose categories (Best Map) bears his name. The Malofiej awards are organized by the Society for News Design (SND), whose Spanish chapter is based at School of Communication of the University of Navarra.

Miguel Urabayen (Pamplona, 1926-2018) was, in addition to being a university professor, a film critic from 1953 to 2013, first in El pensamiento navarro and, since 1971, in the Diario de Navarra. He received the award Nacional de Crítica de Cine in 1970, and medals from the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos in 1969 and 2004. In addition to the University of Navarra, Professor Urabayen taught at the Complutense University and at The Poynter Institute (Florida), where he was Visiting Professor. Between 1978 and 2005 he was invited to give lectures and seminars at Schools, institutes and press associations in Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, United States, France, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela. Miguel Urabayen was also a professor of Comparative Press in the Latin American Graduate Program (PGLA) at the University of Navarra, which he taught between 1972 and 1989.

"My greatest concern is that the students have a visual culture. You can't leave the University without having the culture of the profession, you can't ignore those who have been the main illustrators, photographers and designers of the past, as well as those of today," Urabayen recalled in an interview shortly after retiring.

The dean of the School of Communication, Charo Sádaba, has pointed out that we have to "thank and recognize Miguel Urabayen for his contribution to the teaching of visual journalism and infographics. At a time when the image has become the center of communication, Miguel taught us how to provide it with content".