Ignacio E. "Nacho" Lozano Jr., a former publisher of the Spanish language newspaper La Opinión, patron of theater arts and former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, died Wednesday. He was 96.
Lozano died surrounded by family at the home of one of his four children, daughter Monica Lozano.
In a tribute to him, she wrote: "What is the definition of a great man? If it is to live life to its fullest, to maximize our time on earth pursuing justice for those who suffer the greatest injustice, to promote freedom of the press and the right to information that is unbiased and independent, freedom from oppression, freedom to migrate, freedom from tyranny, then that man is Ignacio Lozano."
"If it is to show others that life can be joyous and loving and there are few treasures as rich as family, then that is Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr." she continued.
Lozano, born in San Antonio, Texas, was the son of Ignacio E. Lozano Sr. and Alicia Elizondo Lozano, who were immigrants from Mexico. His parents founded La Prensa in San Antonio — Texas' first Spanish-language newspaper — and then started La Opinión in Los Angeles in 1926. The latter grew into a national and international publishing company, ImpreMedia, which was acquired by MyCode, a media startup, last year.
Lozano Jr. began working at La Opinión after graduating from the University of Notre Dame, while his father focused on La Prensa. He then took over publishing La Opinión after his father died. As California's Latino population began to expand, so did the newspaper, jumping from 22,000 copies issued in 1977 to 70,000 in 1986, the Los Angeles Times reported in 1987.
With him at the helm, the newspaper went from covering just Mexican news to reporting on other parts of Latin America, and also expanded its reporting on Los Angeles and Latinos, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"He left me with a legacy and with an enterprise worth devoting my life to," Lozano said of his father in the article by the Times.
Lozano was appointed to serve as ambassador to El Salvador by former President Gerald Ford in 1976 but left that post when Jimmy Carter was elected president.
Lozano also was director of Bank of America, the Walt Disney Co., Pacific Life and Sempra Energy and was a member of the board of trustees at University of Notre Dame, where he studied journalism.
After cutting back on his publishing work, Lozano became involved in Los Angeles theater and helped boost the work of Hispanic playwrights, the Times reported.
"I've been 'the Latino' on enough mainstream community organizations," he told the newspaper. "It's time I devoted more attention to things that interest me as a Latino, things that show an interest in the Latino community and culture."
Monica Lozano, who served as managing editor and later publisher of La Opinión, said her father once sued the federal agency that was then known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service for interfering with a La Opinión's newsgathering work. She said he led a delegation to secure the release of Argentine journalist and writer Jacobo Timmerman, during what was known as the Dirty War, which was waged by Argentina's military dictatorship against suspected dissidents from 1976 to 1983. She said he presided over the Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa's objections to Mexican government control of media.
"While he lived out his values through an extraordinary professional life, it was his personal quality that made his life so joyful and adventurous," Monica Lozano wrote in her tribute.
She called him a "quintessential storyteller" who adored her mother, Marta, who died in 2018.
The couple had four children: Leticia, José, Monica and Francisco. He also is survived by nine grandchildren, including Alicia Victoria Lozano, a California-based reporter for NBC News.
