LOS ANGELES – MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) mourns the passing of Alicia R. Chacón, a former national chair and board member of MALDEF. She died Tuesday at 87.
Born in Canutillo, Texas, Chacón began advocating for her community at a young age, inspired by her parents’ example of civic engagement. Her trailblazing career included a series of historic firsts: in 1970, she became the first Mexican American elected to the Ysleta Independent School District board. She later served as El Paso County clerk, became the first Mexican American woman on the El Paso City Council, and was the first woman elected El Paso County judge.
Former President Jimmy Carter appointed her the first woman in the nation to serve as a regional director of the Small Business Administration.
Beyond elected office, Chacón championed farmworker rights, bilingual education, and a wide range of local causes. She served as a MALDEF board member from 1991 to 1995 and as chair of the board from 1993-1995.
In recognition of her extraordinary leadership, Chacón received MALDEF’s Valerie Kantor Award for Extraordinary Achievement in 2013.
Please attribute the following statement to Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF:
“I was so honored to present MALDEF’s highest award, the Valerie Kantor Award, to Alicia Chacón in 2013. She served as board chair at a time of great difficulty, including rampant anti-immigrant policymaking in California, such as Proposition 187, enacted in 1994. She led the board with commitment and dedication, as I observed as a new staff attorney who joined MALDEF during her term as chair. Her passing is a great loss to civil rights and to the Latino community.”
Please attribute the following statement to Antonia Hernandez, president and general counsel of MALDEF from 1985 to 2004:
“A genuine trailblazer, Alicia Chacón was a terrific MALDEF board chair and a terrific person. She was always strategic, thoughtful, and clearly committed to the community. Her many significant accomplishments made her then, and make her still, a true role model for young Latina women in the sphere of public and civic service.”