Jimmy Roger Marín
August 10, 1952 - July 24, 2024
Jimmy Roger Marín was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador on August 10, 1952. His
parents, Carmela and Enrique Marín immigrated to the United States in the fall of
1952 when Jimmy was 3 months old. He is the youngest of 6 children (three
brothers and 2 sisters). The family settled in the mid wilshire district of Los Angeles
near Wilshire and Vermont. Enrique Marín worked as a salesman while Carmela
Marín cared for their six children and took on various temp jobs from time to time.
With the help of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, Jimmy attended St. Thomas
Elementary Catholic School in Los Angeles from first grade through 8th grade and
Cathedral High School from 1967-1971. When he was in the 8th grade, Jimmy
became a U.S. Citizen on December 18, 1966. While at Cathedral, Jimmy followed in
his brother's footsteps and lettered in varsity basketball and football. Jimmy was
proud of being a Cathedral Phantom and often shared stories about the positive experiences he had with his
classmates.
In June of 1972 at the age of 19, Jimmy was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army and was stationed in South
Korea for 2 years. While in Korea, he suffered a hand injury and was placed in inactive service as a military
reserve until 1978. Jimmy returned home to Los Angeles and with the assistance of the GI Bill enrolled in
college. In January of 1976, Jimmy received his Associates in Arts Degree from Los Angeles City College and
soon thereafter enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles where he earned his Bachelor of Arts
Degree in History in 1977. Soon thereafter, Jimmy decided to continue his education at California State
University, Los Angeles to become a classroom teacher. In June of 1978, Jimmy earned his California Teaching
Credential and began his career teaching history at North Park Middle School in Pico Rivera. During his first
year teaching, his eldest son, James Robert Marín was born on April 10, 1979. His second son, Jason Richard
Marín, was born on May 16, 1980. The following year, Jimmy and his first wife, Sylvia, moved from an
apartment in Monterey Park to purchase their first home in El Monte. In 1982, while still teaching at North
Park Middle School, Jimmy earned his Administrative Services Credential and his Master of Arts Degree from
California Lutheran University. He began his tenure as a school administrator as a Dean of Students at El
Rancho High School in Pico Rivera from 1984-1988.
In 1982, Jimmy became involved in local politics supporting various local candidates and in 1983 Jimmy ran
and was elected to serve on the El Monte City Elementary School Board. He was re-elected in 1985 and was
endorsed by several elected officials including the late Congressman Esteban Torres and Marty Martinez. He
was the first Latino elected to the El Monte City School Board. In 1986, Jimmy ran to serve as Mayor of El
Monte but lost the election by about 200 votes. In 1988 he ran for a seat on the city council but lost the
election again by a small margin. His last campaign for elected office was in 1990 when he ran for the El
Monte Union High School Board. Following his candidacy for elected office, Jimmy stayed involved in politics
by actively working to get Latinos elected to various offices. Some of these included Hilda Solis when she ran
for Rio Hondo College Board and State Assembly, the late Gloria Molina when she successfully became the
first Latina elected to the LA County Board of Supervisors and Antonio Villaraigosa when he first ran for the
State Assembly and would later become the first Latino Speaker of the California State Assembly and first
Latino Mayor of Los Angeles. As an active parishioner of Nativity Catholic Church in El Monte, Jimmy also
worked with other churches and religious organizations to register Latinos to vote.

Jimmy Roger Marín
August 10, 1952 - July 24, 2024

In 1988, Jimmy was hired to serve as the Assistant Principal at Fremont Middle School in Pomona and Interim
Principal at Garey High School in 1990. He then returned to North Park Middle School where he began his
teaching career to serve as Principal from 1990-1993. He then left Pico Rivera to serve as Principal at
Roosevelt Middle School in Compton Unified for a year before serving as Principal at Washington Middle
School in Pasadena for two years. In 1996, he returned to Compton Unified to serve as Director of Schools
and Director of Bilingual Programs where he first worked with Dr. George McKenna, who significantly shaped
his equity work in schools. He then married his second wife, Caroline. His third child, Jennifer-Robin Marín,
was born on October 5, 1997.
Following his service in Compton, Jimmy served as a Director of Instructional Support Services for the Los
Angeles Unified School District, Local District I. In 2002, he moved to Northern California and served as a
Director of Instructional Support Services for the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto and later,
the San Bruno Park School District. Following his career in various school districts, Jimmy worked as an
independent consultant and wrote weekly education columns for the Spanish newspaper, La Opinion. His
weekly newspaper columns focused on encouraging parents to advocate for their children’s education and
exposing inequities inherent in the public educational system for students of color. He would later turn his
weekly newspaper columns for La Opinion into a book for parents titled: Enough is Enough! Students of Color
Deserve a Quality Education in Urban Public Schools. Throughout his career he lived by the motto: Con Ganas
Si Se Puede! It was ingrained in everything he did and even captured in his license plate holder.
In 2018, Jimmy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and several years later with fibromyalgia. Despite the
debilitating impact both diseases had on his life, Jimmy continued to stay positive and persevered through the
hardships. Over the years, he worked hard with his medical doctors and physical therapists to work through
the disease. As the disease progressed, Jimmy grew in strength and grounded himself in his Catholic faith and
love of family.
Outside of his career as an educator, Jimmy dedicated himself to raising and supporting his 3 children. He was
a devoted father who provided each of his children with experiences and opportunities that would shape
each of their lives. His experiences as an educator instilled a love of learning and public service in each of his
three children. Each of his three children earned college degrees and went on to work in public education as
classroom teachers, counselors, principals and directors. He took pride in mentoring and supporting each of
his three children to navigate the challenges and thrills of working in public education. Over the years, Jimmy
stayed involved in supporting Cathedral as part of the Cathedral alumni. His brother, Willie “Bill” Marín,
helped found the annual Cathedral Gala. He and his brother played in the annual Cathedral Alumni basketball
tournament for many years. One of Jimmy’s greatest loves in life was refereeing high school basketball games.
Jimmy served as a high school basketball official for 40 years in the San Gabriel Valley. He loved running up
and down the basketball court working with young people and their coaches. He was a sports fanatic and life
long learner. He loved watching every sport possible but especially loved watching the Angeles, Clippers,
Chargers and of course, Notre Dame football! He spent his leisure time watching every sports channel on
cable and following local and national politics. He is survived by his wife, Karina, who he married in 2016, his
children- James, Jason and Jennifer, his sister- Jeanette, brother- Kenny, nephews- Jay and Kenny Jr. and
nieces- Raquel, Carol, Tiffany, Christina and Marie.