Idar, Eduardo Jr., 1920-2003

Eduardo ("Ed") Idar, Jr., was born in Laredo, Texas, in 1920, to a family known for its political activities. Idar's father and grandfather were both newspaper printers before and after the Mexican Revolution. After he graduated from high school in 1938, Idar served as a civilian employee and soldier of the U.S. Army, working in England, India and China in the 1940s. It was while stationed in England that Idar met his first wife, Joan Stringer, with whom he had two children. While in China, Idar earned both the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal, and rose to the rank of Technical Sergeant. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1946.

Supported by the G.I. Bill, Idar earned his Bachelor of Arts in journalism at The University of Texas at Austin in 1949. At UT he was a member of the Alba and Laredo clubs, and began to work with Hector P. García during the founding of the American G.I. Forum (AGIF). Idar later fulfilled the offices of both chairman and secretary of the AGIF in Texas. There, he and others worked towards increasing the Mexican American influence in the political arena, and fought against segregation in the schools. In 1954, Idar gained admission to The University of Texas School of Law, and eventually set up 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, Idar became head of the organization's San Antonio office. 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 Attorny 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. He married his second wife, Mary Meza Idar, in 1994. Eduardo Idar, Jr., died in on 11 October 2003, at the age of 82.