Richard Estrada Chavez (November 12, 1929 – July 27, 2011) was an American labor leader, organizer and activist. Chavez was the younger brother of labor leader César Chávez, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, now known as the United Farm Workers (UFW). Richard Chavez is credited with building the UFW into a major California agricultural and political organization.[1][2]
Chavez was born to a migrant family on November 12, 1929, near Yuma, Arizona, on a family farm.[1][2] He worked as a child migrant worker during the Great Depression.[1] He transitioned from farm work to carpentry and moved to San Jose, California.[1] In the early 1960s, Chavez would leave his job as a carpenter in order to assist Cesar Chavez in his effort to organize California farm workers.[1] Richard Chavez was a co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association with his brother Cesar Chavez and organizing leader Dolores Huerta, which would later become known as the United Farm Workers (UFW).[2]
Richard Chavez spearheaded the construction of the United Farm Workers' union hall, which became its headquarters, in Delano, California.[1] Paul Chavez, the president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation and son of Cesar Chavez, told the Los Angeles Times that "was there before there was a union."[1] In 1962, Richard Chavez designed the now iconic logo of the United Farm Workers, which features a black Aztec eagle.[1][2] (Cesar Chavez chose the red and black colors of the union.[2]) Decades later, U.S. President Barack Obama called the eagle "a symbol of hope that has helped carry the struggle for the rights of farm workers forward for almost five decades."[3]
In 1966, Chavez became the founding director of the National Farm Workers Service Center, which opened up social services to farm workers.[2] Chavez used his home as collateral to establish the UFW's credit union.[1] Chavez helped organize the Delano grape strike and boycott which was led by Dolores Huerta, which spanned five years during the late 1960s.[1] He later helped organize other strikesinDetroit and New York City.
Richard Chavez served as the third Vice President of the United Farm Workers from 1972 until his retirement in 1984.[2] Chavez retired from the United Farm Workers union in 1983, but continued to serve on the board of directors of the Cesar Chavez Foundation and the Dolores Huerta Foundation.[1] Chavez worked as a Los Angeles–based custom home builder during the 1990s after he received a California contractor's license.[1]
For many years, Chavez maintained a liaison with fellow labor leader Dolores Huerta.[1] They never married, but four children were born of the relationship.[1]
Richard Chavez died from complications of surgery at a hospital in Bakersfield, California, on July 27, 2011, at the age of 81.[1][2] He was survived by ten children, six from his first marriage and four from his relationship with Dolores Huerta.[1] Chavez was also survived by two sisters, Rita Chavez Medina and Vicki Chavez Lastra, and one surviving brother, Librado Chavez.[1]
President Barack Obama issued a statement calling Chavez a "symbol of hope."[4] Chavez had visited Obama at the White House in 2010 to mark Cesar Chavez Day.[4]
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