Roybal, Edward Ross, 1916-2005

Edward Ross Roybal (February 10, 1916 – October 24, 2005) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for thirteen years and of the U.S. House of Representatives representing California's 30th and 25th congressional districts for thirty years.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, his family moved to the East Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights when he was a child. After graduating from Roosevelt High School, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, before studying business at UCLA and law at Southwestern Law School. In 1942, Roybal began work as a public health educator with the California Tuberculosis Association. Upon returning home, he began work as director of health education for the Los Angeles County Tuberculosis and Health Association, a position he held until 1949. After an unsuccessful bid in 1947 for a seat on the Los Angeles city council, Roybal helped start the Community Service Organization (CSO), which sought to ally the city’s diverse neighborhoods. In 1949, Roybal was successful in gaining a seat on the city council, becoming the first Hispanic to serve on the Los Angeles city council since 1881.

In 1962, after California gained eight additional seats in the U.S. House because of a population increase, Roybal entered the race for the newly created 30th District seat spanning his Eastside council district, downtown Los Angeles, and portions of Hollywood to the west. His platform reflected many of the community issues he had pursued during his 13 years on the council, including job creation, education, housing, and urban renewal. Easily elected, Roybal was generally known for a low-key legislative style in Congress. Beginning in 1971, he served on the House Appropriations Committee for more than two decades and authored a number of bills, many of which were not universally popular, which offered support for groups he saw as disenfranchised; many of his actions were on behalf of veterans, the elderly, and Mexican-Americans. In 1976 he became a founder of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and later co-founded the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

Roybal retired in 1993 after thirty years in office. That year, following redistricting, his daughter Lucille Roybal-Allard became the Representative for the 33rd District, which contained part of Roybal's district, while Xavier Becerra, with Roybal's endorsement, won election in 30th District, which included much of the remaining territory of Roybal's former 25th District. Roybal died of respiratory failure complicated by pneumonia at the age of 89 on October 24, 2005, at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.