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Home > Press Room > 2007 > Press Release
Press Release
Albert Armendariz Sr., LULAC's
22nd President, Known For Being a Passionate Advocate of Civil
Rights Dies.
The 88 year old Attorney Stood Up Defending the
Rights of Latinos.
October 10, 2007
For more
information, contact:
Lizette J. Olmos, 202-833-6130 ext 16
Washington, DC - Albert
Armendariz who as National President of LULAC
helped change the landscape for Latinos in Texas
and nationwide died Thursday in a Brownsville,
Texas, hospital following surgery two weeks
earlier.
Mr. Armendariz is best
remembered in 1954, while serving as president
of LULAC, Armendariz helped argue Hernandez vs.
the State of Texas, a landmark case that
established Latinos as a distinct class entitled
to protection under the 14th Amendment.
He also served in the Army
during World War II and that helped instill in
him a new sense of value and public service. He
came back to become a prominent civil rights
attorney.
In El Paso in the late 1950s
and early '60s, Armendariz served on the El Paso
Civil Service Commission and is credited with
helping to open the city's police and fire
departments to Mexican Americans.
Representing MALDEF in the
1970s, Armendariz argued Alvarado vs. El Paso
Independent School District, a landmark case
that resulted in a federal court order requiring
desegregation in El Paso schools.
Armendariz was born Aug. 11,
1919, in El Paso, one of seven children. Before
World War II, he worked as a shoe salesman and
an auto mechanic.
In addition to his
eldest son, Armendariz is survived by his second
wife, Mari; sons Edward of Greer, S.C., John
David of El Paso and Larry of Nashville; and
daughters Maria Leticia Robert of McAllen,
Texas, and Mary Lou Contreras of El Paso.
The League of United Latin
American Citizens, the largest and oldest
Hispanic membership organization in the country,
advances the economic conditions, educational
attainment, political influence, health and
civil rights of Hispanic Americans through
community-based programs operating at more than
700 LULAC councils nationwide.
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