Hinojosa, Rubén, 1940-

<p>Beginning in 1997, when he took over the U.S. House seat previously held by a powerful Democratic committee chairman, Rubén Hinojosa was a tireless champion for progressive education policy and financial empowerment. Hinojosa’s deep family roots in his South Texas district, along with his commitment to furthering the interests of Latinos across the United States, made him an outspoken advocate for reforming immigration and trade policy. Over 10 consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, he crafted an agenda that balanced local economic development with a commitment to government programs designed to create educational and economic opportunities for working people.</p>

<p>Rubén Hinojosa was born on August 20, 1940, the eighth of 11 children. His parents had been born in Mexico but fled the Mexican Revolution in 1910 settling in Edcouch, Hidalgo County, Texas. Hinojosa’s parents established a major food-distribution company in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Their leadership in the business sector soon made them a powerful force in the city of Mercedes. English was a second language for the entire Hinojosa family, and Rubén attended a segregated elementary school before graduating from Mercedes High School. He enrolled at the University of Texas, Austin, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1962, and went on to earn a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas–Pan American in Edinburg in 1980. His first marriage ended in divorce. He later married Martha Lopez Hinojosa and has five children: Rubén Jr., Laura, Iliana, Kaitlin, and Karén.</p>

<p>After college, Hinojosa went to work for his family’s company, a prominent employer in the region, eventually serving as its chief executive. In addition to his business career, Hinojosa served on the Mercedes school board from 1972 to 1974, and on the Texas state board of education from 1974 to 1984. He returned to the University of Texas–Pan American as an adjunct professor in its business school and was elected chairman of the board for South Texas Community College in 1993.</p>

<p>Rubén Eloy Hinojosa (born August 20, 1940) is an American politician who served as U.S. Representative for Texas's 15th congressional district, from 1997 to 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district stretches from Seguin (east of San Antonio), to McAllen on the Mexican border. Much of the region is rural although Hidalgo County is part of the third-fastest-growing metropolitan statistical area in the country. Hinojosa served on the House Financial Services and Education committees.</p>

<p>Hinojosa was born in Edcouch, Texas. The eighth of eleven children, Hinojosa was reared in Hidalgo County, which borders on Mexico, and earned two business degrees, a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from the University of Texas–Pan American. For two decades, he was the president and chief financial officer of his family's food processing company, H&H Foods. U.S. President Ronald Reagan named H&H the "Number One Minority-Owned Business in America" in 1983. In 1987, the U.S. Small Business Administration named the Hinojosas "Minority Entrepreneur of the Year."</p>

<p>By 1994, the company was one of the major employers in the Rio Grande area, with 350 employees, and had begun to produce ready-to-eat foods. In 2005, it had $40 million in revenue and 270 employees.</p>

HINOJOSA, Rubén, a Representative from Texas; born in Edcouch, Hidalgo County, Tex., August 20, 1940; attended Mercedes High School, Mercedes, Tex.; B.B.A., University of Texas, Austin, Tex., 1962; M.B.A., University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, Tex., 1980; business executive; member of the Texas state board of education, 1974-1984; adjunct professor, University of Texas-Pan American School of Business, Edinburg, Tex.; chairman, board of South Texas Community College for Hidalgo and Starr Counties, Tex., 1993-1996; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Fifth and to the nine succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997-January 3, 2017); was not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress in 2016.