Corrada-del Río, Baltasar, 1935-2018

Baltasar Corrada del Río (April 10, 1935 – March 11, 2018) was a Puerto Rican lawyer and politician. He held various high political offices in the island, including President of the Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission, Resident Commissioner (1977–1985), Mayor of the capital city of San Juan (1985–1989), Puerto Rico's 15th Secretary of State (1993–1995) and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1995–2005). He was also the unsuccessful NPP candidate for Governor in the elections of 1988.

Born in Morovis, Puerto Rico, he graduated from Colegio Ponceno de Varones High School before earning B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Puerto Rico. Corrada-del Río was admitted to the Puerto Rico bar in 1959, quickly made partner at a leading firm, and began a long and distinguished legal career. By the mid-1970s, Corrada-del Río was one of the island’s most respected human rights lawyers. He wrote a regular column for El mundo, a leading island newspaper, and served as a member of the PNP’s executive committee and as chairman of its committee on political status. In 1976, after initially expressing an interest in becoming Mayor of San Juan and running in an unofficial internal primary within the NPP, Corrada-del Río was elected Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. During his tenure (1977–1985), he advocated for the admission of Puerto Rico into the Union and co-founded the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

Corrada-del Río retired from the House at the end of the 98th Congress (1983–1985), opting not to run for re-election. The next year, Corrada-del Río was elected mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital and largest city, and served as the president of the PNP. In 1988 he waged an unsuccessful campaign for governor of Puerto Rico. Corrada-del Río was later appointed the island’s secretary of state and eventually served as an associate justice on Puerto Rico’s supreme court. He retired from public service at the age of 70. Baltasar Corrada-del Río died on March 11, 2018 in Fort Myers, Florida.