Esteban Torres, 1930 – 2022
Esteban Torres, labor organizer and a lawmaker who was among the first Latino congressmen from California in the 20th century, died of natural causes on Jan. 25, two days before his 92nd birthday.
Recipient of the UCLA Medal in 2020, Torres served eight terms in the House of Representatives giving voice to the largely Latino population in California’s 34th district, which includes parts of downtown, Boyle Heights and East L.A. His early activism centered on his role in the United Auto Workers union. Torres also served as an ambassador to UNESCO and later as special adviser to President Jimmy Carter.
In presenting the UCLA Medal to Torres, Chancellor Gene Block spoke of Torres’ background and how it helped shape his service:
His early years were spent living in a miners’ camp of tent dwellings in Miami, Arizona. Depression-era America was unkind to many immigrants, and Mexican and Mexican Americans endured waves of deportations. Sadly, the Torres family suffered these injustices when Torres was only a small boy and his father was deported in retaliation for his labor organizing. Torres never saw his father again.
Growing up during the Depression, without a father to help guide him, facing widespread discrimination against Latinos was a heavy burden. But that burden did not break Torres. Instead it helped inspire an ethic that guided his career: “Organize, organize, organize. Speak up. Never, never give up.”
His concern for worker’s well-being drove his deepening involvement with economic justice issues and, in 1968, he heeded the call to service again by beginning The East Los Angeles Community Union (or TELACU), a community-action organization that became one of the nation’s largest antipoverty agencies under his guidance.
As a laborer and union leader, Torres deeply understood that the economic vulnerabilities faced by many Americans were made worse by banking and finance industries. So, he authored the Truth in Savings Act. That law required banks to disclose clear information about fees terms, and conditions for savings accounts. He also helped pass legislation to improve consumers’ access to their credit histories and to allow them to more easily challenge errors in their credit reports.
While the absence his father deeply impacted him, so did the presence of his mother and grandmother. As he explained, they “were very strong women, very educated and very proud to be Mexicans.” They instilled that pride in Torres and it helped lead him to serve the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and become an example of effective leadership at a time when few Latinos were present in the highest levels of our government.
Torres served in the House of Representatives from 1983 to 1999. After retiring from Congress, he served on the California Transportation Commission and was a visiting professor at Whittier College and UCLA.
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