Leonel Castillo, activist, former Houston city controller, dies

By Jayme Fraser, Houston Chronicle

Leonel Castillo, longtime activist and the first Latino elected to citywide office died Monday, just days before a community center bearing his name was set to open.

When Houston state Senator Sylvia Garcia told longtime friend Castillo of the honor last year, he was surprised and humble, she said.

“‘Why me?'” Garcia recalled him asking. “He was always out there working for someone. He always was doing it because it was the right thing to do.”

Within hours of learning about the 74-year-old activist’s death, leaders from Houston Mayor Annise Parker to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, flooded press email boxes with statements praising Castillo.

“Everybody knew of him as a pioneer,” Lee said. “He opened the doors for Hispanics in national government.”

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[Photo by Neighborhood Centers]

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