Sara Elena Rios

1952 - 2015

(news article) Sara Elena Rios, who started her career fighting for civil rights and Latino workers at the grassroots level in Toledo before continuing the battle at national organizations, died Thursday. She was 62.

Ms. Rios suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a neurodegenerative disease, and had suffered serious respiratory distress in recent days.

Ms. Rios was born in Toledo on Oct. 31, 1952, the daughter of migrant farm workers Martin and Sara Rios, who had settled in Toledo.

She was the oldest of eight siblings - seven girls and one boy - and became involved in social justice at an early age.

She was one of the early leaders in the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, recruited by founder Baldemar Velasquez when she graduated from Sylvania High School.

Her caring for others seemed innate, sister Anita Rios said, recalling one time in high school when a man selling newspapers outside the downtown Toledo library had no gloves in the cold.

Sara - called Sarita by many who knew her - had small hands, so she told her sister to give the man her gloves.

"I didn't even really see that man," Anita Rios, president of the Ohio National Organization for Women, said. "She was always aware what was going on around her, and was not afraid to try and do something about that."

Sara Rios was on the leadership council of FLOC in its early years, serving as vice president for nearly a decade, her sister said.

She was intelligent and insightful at an early age, Mr. Velasquez said, focusing on human and civil rights.

"You don't choose to be interested in [civil rights]," Mr. Velasquez said. "It chooses you."

That push for civil rights was both external and internal within the groups she joined, as she was a major force behind a FLOC policy that women would be given equitable representation throughout the FLOC organization, Mr. Velasquez said.

The fights Ms. Rios had in the 1970s in Toledo are still relevant today, as the treatment of immigrants and migrant workers is of national and international concern.

She became a lawyer to help in the struggle, receiving an undergraduate and law degree from the University of Toledo.

She moved to New York City, holding several positions at prominent organizations, including as director of the human rights and social justice program for the Ford Foundation in New York City.

Tributes came from many of the institutions for which Ms. Rios worked.

New York City's LatinoJustice PRLDEF, formerly known as Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she was an attorney and legal director, said she "addressed the exploitation of Latino workers and guided our docket for years."

"Few of us can exhibit the kind of courage that Sarita displayed as she was nearing the end of a committed and memorable journey on this Earth," Juan Cartagena, president of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said on the group's website. "It is a testament to her family and to her warrior spirit."

"As a foundation family we cherish Sara's memory and are grateful for her passionate service to the ideals of justice and equality," Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, said in a note to staff.

In 2012 she was named president of the Ruth Mott Foundation in Flint, Mich., but moved back to Toledo in 2013 to be closer to family after she was diagnosed. In a Facebook post, the Ruth Mott Foundation called her a "special friend to all and showed great courage and generosity of spirit even in the face of a terrible illness like ALS."

Even when she worked for prominent organizations, Ms. Rios seemed to make friends with those who held the lowest level positions: custodians, security guards, landscaping crews.

"She brought hope to people's struggles and she shined a light on those struggles," her sister said.

She fought her disease hard, Anita Rios said, seeking treatment overseas or trying to enroll in stem cell trials.

"She was adamant that a treatment for this awful, awful disease must be found," she said.

Ms. Rios is survived by brother Martin Rios and sisters Anita, Adela, Margaret, Mary Alice, Elizabeth, and Eva Rios, as well has her parents Martin and Sara Rios.

A memorial service will begin at noon Sunday at Reeb Funeral Home, 5712 Main St. in Sylvania, followed by a luncheon at Toledo First Seventh-day Adventist Church, 4909 W. Sylvania Ave.

This is a news story written by Nolan Rosenkrans. Contact him at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086, or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.