Passing of Jose Montoya, renowned artist, poet laureate, musician and farm worker champion as founder of the RCAF
The entire farm worker movement and Chavez family learned with genuine sorrow that Jose Ernesto Montoya passed away peacefully Wednesday afternoon, September 25, at his home in Sacramento. Jose earned many accolades during his long life. He was a devoted father, a world-renowned artist, poet laureate, musician, social and Latino rights activist, and he taught for 25 years in the Department of Art Education at California State University Sacramento.
We will also remember him as founder of the Royal Chicano Air Force, a Chicano arts collective that organized countless cultural, educational and political activities in the Sacramento area, and is still championing Cesar Chavez and the farm workers’ cause. The RCAF created some of the most iconic posters in the history of the United Farm Workers as silk screens; many of them were run off in the garage of fellow activist Joe Serna Jr., who later became Sacramento’s mayor.
According to Jose’s son, Richard Montoya, Jose passed away at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, “under brilliant blue valley skies [and] surrounded by devoted sons and daughters who loved him without condition in a room filled with prayer, light, love and the quiet strums of his favorite guitarra. According to Jose’s wishes, a private ceremony was held for immediate familia at the moment of his passing. We ask that our need to grieve privately be respected. Don Jose was a man who lived and died with great dignity and courage. A public memorial and celebration of his extraordinary life will be planned for the near future.”
The entire farm worker movement and Chavez family extend sympathies and grateful thanks for Jose Montoya’s extraordinary life to the entire Montoya family.
Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul F. Chavez and United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez issued the following statement:
"We will always cherish Jose for how he inspired us as well as so many others through his art. But we will also remember him for the countless times when he walked picket lines, helped organize UFW events and fed the farm workers during every major strike, boycott and political campaign. He was truly a servant of the farm worker movement and we will always be in his debt.
"The entire farm worker movement and the Chavez family extend to the Montoya family our deepest sympathies and grateful thanks for Jose Montoya’s extraordinary life."
Jose Montoya, Presente!