As friends of Dr. Joseph I. Castro, we join his family in mourning the loss of a remarkable leader and friend. While his professional accomplishments are well known, we remember Joe, the person.
Joe was a first-generation university graduate, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, born and raised in Hanford, California, by a single mother. He served as a mentor and friend to each of us. He spent his career ensuring that students with similar backgrounds—students who were just like him, and like us—had the opportunity to attain a college degree.
We each learned from Joe how to advocate unapologetically for policies that improve access to higher education for all students, especially for first-generation, Black, Asian, Native American, and Latinx students.
Some of us had the privilege of going to college with Joe at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Others of us first heard about him in high school, as one of the few Central Valley students who attended the Chicano-Latino Youth Leadership Conference, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees, and returned to give back to his community. All of us had the honor of serving under him as staff or colleagues at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced, UC San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara, and California State University, Fresno. We also worked with him at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, where Joe became the first Mexican American, and the first from Central California, to be appointed Chancellor of the California State University system in its 60-year history.
Throughout his decades of leadership roles at these institutions of higher education, Joe taught us to lead with humility and a fierce commitment to student-centered decision-making. Some of us benefited from this commitment as students and today hold leadership positions he encouraged us to pursue. Others of us witnessed how he lived out this commitment while working for—or alongside—him.
Joe showed us how to leverage leadership roles to support entire communities, whether by hosting or sponsoring meetings, conferences, and fundraisers, or by honoring individuals who might not otherwise have been recognized for their achievements. Countless individuals who attended these events and met him can attest that he was a kind, genuine, caring, giving, and selfless person.
All of us will continue Joe’s legacy by championing higher education as the essential engine of opportunity and prosperity for all Californians. As Joe taught us, some of us will continue his legacy by following his path: teaching, coaching, and mentoring students and aspiring faculty to pursue their educational and career aspirations. For those of us who are parents, we will do all of these things and draw from Joe’s example of faith, optimism, and perseverance—teaching our own children to make everyone feel valued, regardless of title or role, just as he did every day.
We may not be able to match Joe’s accomplishments by serving on multiple prestigious boards, such as Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, or the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). We may not receive the Ohtli Award—the highest honor given to non-citizens of Mexico by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs—as Joe did in 2016. But we will continue to honor Joe’s legacy by bringing the word Ohtli (which means “pathway”) to life, by opening and widening avenues for today’s generation, just as he did for ours.
Irma Rodriguez Moisa, Cal Alum ‘88, Attorney and School Board Member
Claudia L. Martinez, Cal Alum ’89, Higher Education Administrator
Brian Rivas, Cal Alum ‘90, ‘92, Government Relations
Larry Salinas, Fresno State Alum ‘86, Congressional Deputy Chief of Staff
Jorge A. Aguilar, CLYLP Alum ‘89, Cal Alum ‘94, Educator and Advocate
Martin R. Juarez, Cal Alum ’89, Silicon Valley Tech Executive
Max Espinoza, CLYLP Alum ‘92, UCLA Alum ‘99, Educator and Advocate
Encarnacion Ruiz, Fresno State Alum ‘83, Retired Higher Education Administrator
Joseph Bishop, UCSB Alum ‘04, Scholar
Stacy Heldman-Holguin, Cal Alum ’90, Education Consultant and Former Higher Ed Administrator
Gloria P. Flores, Cal Alum ’87, Cornell Alum ’91, Learning & Development Executive
Nancy Ramirez, Cal Alum ’87
Dr. Joseph I. Castro In Memoriam 