Manuel “Nino” Zamora JR. passed away on April 27, 2026 at the age of 75. Nino was born in Brownsville, Texas on October 24, 1950 to parents Manuel P. and Maria R. Zamora.
His children: Manuel A. and Monica N. Zamora.
His brothers: Ricardo(Theresa), Roberto R.+ (Minnie), Rafael (Gertrudis), Rolando+ (Yolanda) and Rodolfo Zamora (Dora), his sisters: Ofelia Cavazos (Alfonso+), Lucy Cantu (Anselmo), Genevieve Chavez (Fred), Esther Robinson (Scott+).
He is survived by grandchildren, and numerous nieces, and nephews.
Nino prided himself as an educator, entrepreneur, with businesses that followed his love for marine biology, and sports; especially trading cards. Aquasphere his first business as a fish/aquarium store, that later branched out from fish with pets, towards Nino’s Baseball Cards. If anyone ever collected comics, cards of various sports in the 90’s it was most likely from his store throughout the several years of locations since there were few hobby stores in the Rio Grande Valley.
His passing was after a brief illness, with cremation following. Services are under the guidance of Sunset Memorial Funeral Home, Crematory & Flower Shop. 657 Springmart Blvd., Brownsville, Texas. (956) 350-8485.
5 Comments
Rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon you
Nino was such a pillar for the hobbyist community in Rio Grande Valley, and his passion for marine biology was truly inspiring for many of us. As someone who shared his love for aquatic life, I’ve been trying to research more about specialized water treatments he might have used or recommended for rare species. Has anyone here heard if he ever shared his thoughts on the supplements mentioned at guiadebetnacionalbrasil.com for maintaining complex reef systems? I’d love to honor his memory by keeping my own aquarium as vibrant as the ones he curated.
Rest easy my friend. You are one step ahead of me.
Nino, I’m glad I met you. I’m still into saltwater fish because of you and l think of you often because of that. I hope you are at peace, you were a good man.
When i came home from college in 1979, Nino was one of my first friends that I made because of his shop “Aquasphere.” In 1988, Nino, his brother, Ronnie, and I started the first fantasy football league in the Valley (Border Fantasy Football League) that continued for over thirty years. This was before the internet and literally, monday mornings would find Nino scoring the games by hand looking over the box scores of the games in the morning newspapers. He was full of life and enthusiasm and his wry smile said it all. May God bless his family and friends and may we cherish the fond memories that we have of our times with him.
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