The son of migrant workers became California’s first Latino Supreme Court justice
UCLA School of Law
Joshua Rich |
May 12, 2021
The loss of former California Supreme Court justice and UCLA School of Law professor Cruz Reynoso, who died on May 7 at age 90, has left the UCLA Law community saddened.
Members fondly recall a formidable but thoroughly humble and kind collaborator and mentor who rose from a childhood as the son of migrant workers to become California’s first Latino Supreme Court justice and then a treasured UCLA Law professor for 10 years in the 1990s.
“Cruz Reynoso was beloved by generations of UCLA Law students who benefited from his extensive practice and judicial experience,” says Professor Laura E. Gómez, a close colleague. “He inspired Latino students and young lawyers by sharing his personal story — often punctuated with phrases and truisms in Spanish — as one of 11 children whose parents migrated from Mexico to rural Orange County, where he worked in the fields through high school.”