LOS ANGELES, April 26 (UPI) -- Sal Castro, who led 1968 student walkouts in Los Angeles, was remembered as an inspiring activist and teacher at his funeral, friends and family said.
More than 1,000 people attended the memorial Thursday. Castro died April 15 after a seven-month bout with cancer, the Los Angeles Times reported. He was 79.
Castro organized walkouts at five predominantly Mexican-American schools to protest inequalities in education for Latinos in the Los Angeles school district.
He was arrested and charged with 30 counts of disturbing the peace after the walkouts, the Times reported.
Many of his students were inspired by his activism, and went on to be teachers and organizers.
"He made education relevant for us and made school worth going to," said Richard Verches, an international human rights lawyer and lecturer at UCLA. "We continue to give back to the community because of him."
Some who attended Thursday's funeral wore shirts representing the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, a non-profit organization that Castro founded in 1964, the Times reported.
The organization trained future leaders at workshops until it lost its funding in 2009, but collections from a donation box will be used toward reinstating the group.
