Remembering Chicano activist, Cal State Northridge professor Raul Ruiz

MISSION HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Activist, journalist and long-time professor at Cal State Northridge Dr. Raul Ruiz passed away last month at the age of 78.

Ruiz was laid to rest Monday at the San Fernando Mission Catholic Cemetery in Mission Hills.

In the days after his passing, former students, friends and colleagues took to social media to express their condolences and share memories of the beloved professor.

Dr. Ruiz's 45 years as a Chicano Studies professor left a lasting legacy. Most notably, his work at the forefront of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.

Activist, journalist and long-time professor at Cal State Northridge Dr. Raul Ruiz was laid to rest Monday at the San Fernando Mission Catholic Cemetery in Mission Hills.

In the late 1960s, he helped kick start underground newspapers including La Raza, a bilingual and widely influential local newspaper.

Dr. Ruiz documented and participated in significant events in the struggle for justice and equality for Latinos in the U.S., including the student walkouts in East Los Angeles back in 1968.

His work as an activist can be observed through the following decades.

As a photojournalist, he documented the Chicano Moratorium in 1970, a protest addressing the high rate of Chicanos dying in the Vietnam War.

After the protest evolved into a violent clash with police, Dr. Ruiz photographed a historic moment when Sheriff deputies shot teargas into the Silver Dollar Bar, resulting in the death of Los Angeles Times journalist Ruben Salazar.

In 1971, Dr. Ruiz ran for the California State Assembly as a member of the newly-formed La Raza Unida Party, but he was unsuccessful.

He went on to become a professor at California State University at Northridge and retired from the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies in 2015.