Carlos Cortez was the real deal. One of those men who made everything around him seem small. Not because he tried to make anyone feel small– the opposite is true. In the handful of times I’d ever talked to him at a poetry event, he was a living legend to me. All hail Carlos Cortez.
Obituary by Carlos Cumpian
Carlos A. Cortez, 81, Activist Artist and Writer
Chicago, Illinois—
Carlos A. Cortez, through his labor-oriented art and writings that helped bring international attention to Mexicans and other native peoples, died on Jan. 18 at his home in Chicago. He was 81.The cause of death was heart failure, according to his doctor Teresa Ramos M.D., present at the time of his death.
Imprisonment as a conscientious objector during World War II led to his membership in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union. Cortez’s support of the IWW or “Wobblies,” was central to the theme of many of his wood and linoleum-cut graphics, as well as editorial and poetic works. He was columnist and editor for the IWW union paper, The Industrial Worker, from the late 1950s to 2005, and the author of four books.
In 1975, Cortez joined Jose G. Gonzalez to found the first Mexican arts organization in Illinois, Movimiento Artistico Chicano, MARCH, Inc. Cortez was also an active member of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago Mural Group, Mexican Taller del Grabado (Mexican Graphic Workshop), Casa de la Cultura Mestizarte, the Native Men’s Song Circle and Charles H. Kerr Publishers. Cortez’s work is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Cortez is survived by the relatives of his late wife Mariana Drogitis-Cortez: his sisters-in-law, Theodora Katsikakis and Lela Vlahos; brother-in-law Nicholas Drogitis; nieces Despina Katsikakis and Monica Meissner, grand niece Alexandra Kailing, and nephews Kosta Vlahos and George Vlahos.
Memorial services are private after Mr. Cortez’s cremation in Chicago, Illinois.
Those seeking to honor his memory may make a contribution to the American Indian Center at 1630 W. Wilson Ave. or the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.