First Latino LAUSD board member Julian Nava dies at 95

Julian Nava, the first Latino school board member for the Los Angeles Unified school district who later went on to become the first Mexican-American U.S. ambassador to Mexico under President Jimmy Carter, died last week at age 95.

Current Los Angeles Unified leaders and school board members honored Nava as a trailblazer, and champion for the Latino community. Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote that Nava “paved paths for the waves of Latino politicians across Southern California that followed him in education, elected office, diplomacy and beyond by working within systems that had long excluded people like them.”

“The life and legacy of Dr. Julian Nava will continue through the lives of our students,” Local District Central Superintendent Frances Baez said in a news release from LAUSD. “Due to his accomplishments, generations of students have walked through the doors he fearlessly broke through.”