Rudy was a second generation migrant farmworker who attended 13 schools, dropping out in third grade; yet he expressed himself eloquently in Spanish and English. Farm work brought Rudy to Florida in 1954. I was privileged to meet him in 1967, offering him a job as an investigator with the newly formed Florida Rural Legal Services.

While there, Rudy formed Organized Migrants In Community Action (OMICA). He built that organization into a dynamic advocate for the rights and needs of farmworkers. The recent January freeze that has destroyed much of Florida's crops, leaving thousands of farmworkers without income, makes me long for Rudy to call us to action, much as he did so passionately in 1971.