Dear Friends and Colleagues:

It is my sad duty to inform you that on Friday, February 2, 1996 a great man passed from this earth.

Don Julian Samora, a pioneer in the development of Chicano studies and a tireless advocate for our people, died at the age of 75. He leaves behind a distinguished record of accomplishment as well as a host of former students who are now in positions where they can carry on his work.

As professor of sociology at Michigan State University and then at the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Samora firmly established Mexican-American studies as an area of specialization. An inspiring teacher, as well as a scholar, he mentored more than 50 Latino students in history, law, anthropology, and sociology, as well as other fields.

Professor Samora co-founded the National Council of La Raza, one of the leading Hispanic organizations in the country, and served on many governmental and private boards and commissions, including the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, the National Institute of Mental Health and the President's Commission on Rural Poverty. He edited Nuestro, the International Migration Review, and other journals.

At Notre Dame he directed the Mexican Border Studies Project sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Among his many awards were the White House Hispanic Heritage Award (1985) and the Aguila Azteca (Aztec Eagle) medal (1991) which he received along with farm labor leader Cesar Chavez from Mexico's then President, Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Dr. Samora began life in Pegosa Springs, Colorado in 1920. He never forgot the bitter experience of the discrimination that he encountered in his youth. Sixty years later he remembered the cast of his high school play resigning when he got the lead part. He often recounted the story of how he managed to get a hotel room in Fort Collins, CO by convincing the desk clerk he was from India. And he told with great sadness of how he lost an election for student body president in college by one vote - his roommate refusing to vote for "a Mexican."

Despite the adversity, fueled by a fierce pride in his heritage, raw instincts for human equality, and an intense drive to learn, Dr. Samora completed the M.S. degree in 1947 and earned a Ph.D. degree in Sociology from Washington University, St. Louis, in 1953.

Early in his career in the field of medical sociology, Dr. Samora studied the implications of traditional folk medicine for modern clinical medicine and explored the correlation between ethnicity and the delivery of health services. Later, his professional efforts focused on making the dominant Anglo society aware of the national importance of Spanish-speaking people through his articles, reports, and books, including the National Study of the Spanish Speaking People for the the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights and La Raza: Forgotten Americans and Mexican-Americans in the Southwest. His book on Los Mojados: The Wet Back Story is considered a classic on Mexican immigration to the United States, a book with relevance today. His co-authored book, Gunpowder Justice, exposed the harsh reality behind the myths associated with the Texas Rangers and documented their poor treatment of Mexicans in Texas. Other books with collaborators include, A History of the Mexican-American People and Mexican-Americans in the Southwest.

His legacy also includes the Julian Samora Research Institute, established in 1989 at Michigan State University, which carries on his work by undertaking research of relevance to the Hispanic community.

Dr. Samora leaves behind three sons, Geoffrey of South Bend, IN; David of Santa Fe, N.M.; John of Phoenix, Ariz.; and a daughter, Carmen, with whom he lived in recent years in Albuquerque, N.M. He also leaves a legion of friends, colleagues, and a new generation of scholar activists seeking to carry on his work, all of whom will miss him greatly.

Memorial arrangements are pending. Those who might wish to make a contribution in his memory might consider a donation to the Julian Samora Scholarship Fund established in his honor at Michigan State University. It provides funds to mentor and support disadvantaged college students. Details about that and other opportunities for supporting the Institute that bears his name are included herewith.

Those of you who might want to send expressions of sympathy to the family can do so through his daughter Carmen Samora at this address:

Although Dr. Samora has left us, his memory and his legacy live on, testaments to the measure of the man. Pero no siente triste porque la luz todavia esta prendida y ha cambiado manos.

Sincerely,

Refugio I. Rochin

Professor and Director, Julian Samora Research Institute

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