Idar, Eduardo.

Mexican American lawyer and legal rights activist Eduardo ("Ed") Idar, Jr. was born in Laredo, Texas, in 1920. He served in the U.S. Army in the 1940s, and earned both the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal, and rose to the rank of Technical Sergeant. Idar graduated from the University of Texas School of Law, and had his own legal practices in McAllen and later San Angelo.

In 1970, Idar became an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), where he worked until 1974. While with MALDEF, he worked on several civil rights cases, including Regester v. Bullock , a case that brought about single-member legislative districts in Bexar County, and contributed substantially to the influence of Mexican Americans in Texas. In 1974, Idar took the position of Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas, and assisted in several police brutality cases before beginning the biggest case of his career, Ruiz v. Estelle. Idar argued this landmark prison rights case on the side of the Texas Department of Corrections, but the issue was not resolved until years after Idar retired from the Attorney General's office in 1983. In retirement, Idar stayed involved in various Mexican American interest groups and participated in talks and panels on education and civil rights. Eduardo Idar, Jr. died in on 11 October 2003, at the age of 82.