A man who gave so much of himself to make the world better than how he left it.

Jose De La Luz Martinez Ramirez died less than a week ago. His son, Jose De La Luz Martinez, says his dad was a professor in accounting at the trade school his grandfather started nearly 90 years ago in Reynosa.

Ramirez was a rancher and a produce importer in the Rio Grande Valley.

Even after retiring 10 years ago and living in Mission, Jose says his dad kept working and investing in the shipping of produce.

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Jose's dad had a home in Reynosa. Last Thursday, he went to city hall downtown to pay his property taxes.

Jose's family said when Ramirez got back to his car at a parking lot on the corner of Allende and Porfirio Díaz, he was kidnapped and taken away in his own Jeep.

The car was later found abandoned in the Del Maestro neighborhood, Ramirez's cell phone tossed on the side of the highway leading to the Anzalduas International Bridge.

Jose agreed to speak to Channel 5 News as long as his face was not shown, because he's concerned about his own safety.

"I agreed with doing this interview...because it's important, my dad's legacy, but also I feel it's important for people to know that there's an application that helped us tremendously in finding my dad," Jose said.

He claims an app on his father's cell phone helped Tamaulipas investigators find his father's body near the Anzalduas bridge.

Jose's family is hurting from the loss, but he says they're staying strong. What's helping him during this time is a story his father told him his whole life.

The story of how his father was climbing Mount Popocatepetl near Mexico City when he was in college. He told them about the cold wind of the mountain, the pressure from the altitude and the anguish of every obstacle and finally the joy of reaching the top.

"By telling us that story he told us 500 times never to give up," Jose said. "Adversity, more than being an enemy to you, it's going to build character, and it's going to build a story worth telling 500 times."