Ray Castro, 64, passed away after a long illness. Ray was born in south central Los Angeles. He attended St. Anthony's Franciscan Seminary for high school, graduated from UCLA in 1970 with a BA in Spanish, earned a master's degree in Public Administration in 1972 from UCLA, and received a doctorate of education from Harvard University. Working primarily as an academic in the field of education, Dr. Castro held administrative and faculty positions at the Claremont Graduate School, San José State University, UC Berkeley and Sonoma State University.
He was the vice president of the Tomás Rivera Center from 1988-93. Ray retired from Sonoma State University in 2004 as the Chair of the Chicano and Latino Studies program. He also worked as a grant writer, program evaluator specialist, and facilitator for diversity initiatives for private and public institutions. A memorial service will be held in southern California.