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BERT CORONA, NATIONAL LATINO LEADER, FIGHTS TO THE LAST BREATH
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HERMANDAD MEXICANA NACIONAL
Los Angeles, California - Bert Corona, national Latino civil rights and labor leader and activist, fought to the last breath finally succumbing to a series of health ailments at 9:15 p.m., Monday, January 15, 2001, at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 82 years of age. Corona had returned from Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico on Saturday, January 6, 2001 after enduring three operations within a nine-day period. He had been hospitalized first on December 26, 2000 for an acute gall bladder inflammation. The gall bladder was removed, but resulted in kidney failure. Several days later he endured another operation for renal failure and infection, which required a blood transfusion, and a third operation three days later was to replace his pacemaker. Corona left the Aranda de la Parra Hospital in the city of Leon to return to Los Angeles in medical transport and was immediately taken to Kaiser Permanente to receive medical attention by his personal physician. However, he never regained consciousness since his return, and his health continued to deteriorate over the past week.
In 1993 the University of California Press published Corona's autobiography, Memories of Chicano History. Professor Mario T. Garcia, who collaborated with Corona in the preparation of the narrative of his Memories, stated, "Bert Corona was born in (May 29) 1918 in El Paso, Texas, a child of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Through his family, Corona symbolizes the thousands of Mexican immigrants and refugees who crossed the U.S.-Mexican border-a border created by nineteenth-century U.S. expansion-seeking jobs and safety."
He currently served as National Director and Executive Director of the Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a national nonprofit membership community based organization of Spanish-speaking immigrants headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Corona is survived by his wife, Angelina Corona, his daughter, Margo De Ley, and sons, David, Frank, and Ernesto Corona, and three grandchildren, Baltie, Liza and Clare. The family is presently arranging services and will advise friends and the public in the coming days.
Correspondence can be forward to:
Hermandad Mexicana Nacional
634 S. Spring Street, 8th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90014
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