Ralph Ochoa ’63, J.D. ’69

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Forty years ago, UCLA presented Ralph Ochoa with a B.A. in Zoology. In return, Ochoa has given back a lifetime of passion and commitment to UCLA and the University of California. A core value for the UCLA Alumni Association is “advocacy,” and Ochoa has been a leader in advancing the quality and stature of UCLA as one of is premier advocates.

Ochoa has experience in all levels of government: from the federal executive branch as an inspector for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the federal legislative branch with the United States Senate Subcommittee on Judicial Reform and as legislative aide to United States Senator Joseph D. Tydings; to Los Angeles County as a probation officer; to the State of California legislature as the chief assistant to the speaker of the California State Assembly, Leo McCarthy – and this was all within his first 15 years after graduation!

He has also brought his considerable skills into the field of higher education, serving on the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Public Policy Advisory Board and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, as well as the Committee on the University of California and State Government. And then he came home – serving on the Board of Trustees of the UCLA Foundation, the UCLA Board of Visitors and as president of the UCLA Alumni Association.

Ochoa received the Latino Alumni Association Alumnus of the Year Award in 1997 and the Sacramento Area UCLA Alumnus of the Year Award in 1998.