Bañuelos, Romana Acosta, 1925-2018

Romana Acosta Bañuelos (March 20, 1925 – January 15, 2018)[1] was the thirty-fourth Treasurer of the United States. Appointed by President Richard Nixon on September 20, 1971,[2] she served from December 17, 1971, to February 14, 1974.

Born into a poor family of Mexican-Americans, Acosta became the first Hispanic treasurer of the United States (1971–1974) and owner of a multimillion-dollar business, Ramona's Mexican Food Products, Inc. headquartered in Gardena, California. She also co-founded the Pan American National Bank in East Los Angeles. born in the mining town of Miami, Arizona, on March 20, 1925, to Juan Francisco Acosta and Teresa Lugo.[3] In 1933, during the Great Depression, the U.S. government deported her family, and thousands of other Mexican-Americans, even though many of the deportees, like Acosta, had been born in the United States (and were thus, according to the 14th Amendment, U.S. citizens not legally subject to deportation). Acosta married Martin Torres in Mexico at age 16, not an unusually young age in that culture at the time. She had two sons, Carlos and Martin, by age 18. She returned to the United States with her children. Some reports speculate she worked in an El Paso, Texas, laundromat for a time, while others say she followed an aunt to Los Angeles. Most accounts describe Acosta arriving in Los Angeles, California, with her children, unable to speak English and with only seven dollars to her name. e. At 21, she married Alejandro Bañuelos and saved about $500, which she used to start a tortilla factory in downtown Los Angeles. Acosta bought a tortilla machine, a fan, and a corn grinder, and with her aunt helping her she made $36 on the factory's first day of business in 1949. In 1963, looking for ways to help the struggling Latinos in her neighborhood, Acosta and some businessmen founded the Pan-American National Bank in East Los Angeles, California. Despite the ugly affair, Acosta sailed through the confirmation process to become the nation's 34th Treasurer and the first Latina Treasurer in U.S. history. She took office on December 17, 1971, becoming the highest-ranking Mexican-American in the government. Acosta Bañuelos served as treasurer until 1974, by which time Nixon was embroiled in the Watergate affair and would soon resign the presidency to be replaced by Gerald Ford. She resigned as treasurer earlier in the year to return to her businesses, family, and philanthropic pursuits. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Acosta continued to serve as president of Ramona's and Pan-American National, and by 1992, she had served three terms as chair of the bank's board of directors. In the late 1990s she allowed her three children to take over daily operations of Ramona's and to play large roles in the bank's operations.

Acosta Bañuelos remained CEO at Pan-American National and president of Ramona's, running both businesses from her Los Angeles home. The Acosta family owned two-thirds of the shares in the publicly-traded bank. Pan-American National Bank is credited with helping economically troubled East Los Angeles develop a sense of community and with being a factor in the economic improvement of its Latino population.

Acosta Bañuelos died January 15, 2018, in Redondo Beach, California.

Romana Acosta Banuelos was born in Miami, Arizona, in 1925, but grew up in Mexico. She returned to the United State and became a business woman. She served as Treasurer of the United States from December 17, 1971 to February 14, 1974.