It is with great sadness that we announce that former Executive Director of the Alum Rock Counseling Center, Jose Montes de Oca passed away on January 28 from complications of liver cancer.
Jose was a leader and advocate for Latino youth and community. He will be deeply missed. Our hearts go out to his family.
The San Jose Mercury News published a story about his work to improve the community and the legacy he leaves behind on February 2, 2015. Read the full story here.
Taken from the Mercury News, Obituary 2/2/15:
SAN JOSE — When his son was born 40 years ago, Jose Montes de Oca was running a magazine that covered the Chicano movement at San Jose State University — a movement Montes de Oca had been breathing life into since he arrived on campus.
“There were not that many Chicanos at San Jose State at that time,” recalled Montes de Oca’s longtime friend, Macario Ortiz, “so when you saw a brown face it was a good thing.”
There also weren’t that many single dads in those days, and fewer still who were doggedly attempting to raise a child in a 3-bedroom apartment, where he was living with five college roommates — including Ortiz.
Jose Montes de Oca, June 2014. (Calyse Tobias/Mosaic)“He was the first single parent that I ever met,” said Ortiz. “Jose was always taking that baby to meetings, going everyplace with his son.”
The six young Latino bachelors who raised Jose Junior called themselves “the Roommates,” and were planning to watch the Super Bowl together Sunday, until word came last week that Montes de Oca had died on Jan. 28, at age 61, from complications of liver cancer. Last June, he revealed his grim diagnosis to a wide network of family and friends on Facebook.
Read the full story here. Thank you to the Mercury News for sharing Jose’s legacy with the San Jose Community. He will be missed.