'A true community leader': Ronnie Lopez, Phoenix powerbroker and Latino advocate, has died

Ronnie Lopez, who rose from the mountainous mining town of Miami to become a top powerbroker in Democratic politics in Phoenix and a mentor to hundreds of young people, has died. 

Lopez was 73. 

He died at his home in north-central Phoenix, his goddaughter told The Arizona Republic.

Lopez was best known for a wise lesson to his compadres, from the late Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., to young people trying to break through in politics: The biggest gift you can give is of your time.

He gave a lot of it. 

Paul Luna, a member of Lopez’s extended family and a longtime friend, was guided almost his whole life by Lopez. 

“I was someone like many others, that Ronnie was a true friend to, but he was also a mentor,” Luna said. “That was one of the things he did: He took a lot of people underneath his wings as he became a true community leader when he worked in the Governor's Office for (Democratic Gov.) Bruce Babbitt.

“At times, there were only handfuls of Latinos who worked in those positions and had that opportunity to work in a Governor’s Office. Ronnie adopted a lot of people in terms of who he supported and championed and mentored. He wanted to see so many others follow in his footsteps and have opportunities.”

Lopez grew up in Miami, east of Phoenix. His father died after his sixth birthday and his mom raised him and his two older brothers on money made cleaning houses and, later, working in the mines.

Lopez wanted to see if he could make it in the big city. He moved to Phoenix in the mid-1960s, when he was 20.

By then, he had earned an associate's degree at junior college. It was a time when social and political activism among Latinos was strong and community advocates were fighting a system they deemed unfair.

Miami's local politico was a barber who connected Lopez with a job in Phoenix as a field representative for the Arizona State Civil Rights Commission. For two years, he investigated allegations of discrimination. Over the next eight years, he led Chicanos Por La Causa and then served as a justice of the peace in west Phoenix. 

He built a reputation as a passionate — but sometimes hard-knuckled — champion of better housing and education for Hispanics.

Lopez caught the eye of Babbitt, then Arizona attorney general. They became fast friends and Lopez joined Babbitt's staff in 1978, when Babbitt became governor.

In 1987, Lopez opened Phoenix International Consultants, a lobbying and public relations firm that represents companies ranging from Southwest Airlines to HMS Host. Until his death, he was a member of CopperPoint Insurance Companies’ board of directors. 

Lopez was just as comfortable in executive board rooms and cigar rooms as he was in his backyard, where he hosted fundraisers, family get-togethers and birthday parties for friends.

He regaled audiences big and small with stories of his career and upbringing. A born storyteller, he left his friends in tears, either from laughing or crying. Oftentimes, the stories were not fit for print.

“If anyone had the blessing of hanging out with Ronnie Lopez, it will always be remembered as one of the best nights of your life,” said Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., a former Phoenix mayor who spent a lot of time on Lopez’s back porch. 

Stanton met Lopez in the 1990s, after meeting his son, Paul, in Young Democrats. Ronnie welcomed him into the family.

“When you’re in his family, you’re in his family forever, he’s a loyal person,” Stanton said. “He had no reason to welcome me into his family that closely and he did.”

In the mid-1990s, Stanton attended a Democratic National Convention and couldn’t afford a hotel room. He slept on the floor of one of Ronnie’s rooms: “He would give you the shirt off his back.” 

A softness came to him later in life, with the death of his son Paul in 2018 and his best friend, Pastor.

He leaves behind his wife of many decades, Angie, his son Marcos Antonio Lopez, his granddaughter, Ava, and his daughter-in-law Hilda. 

“What Ronnie represented and what he literally did with his life is so important now — he was a champion and advocate for the Latino community, and a voice for social justice and bringing opportunity and equity and fairness to the Latino community,” Luna said. “... And he’d be the first to tell you, he wasn’t the only one, but he was a true community leader.”

Have news to share about Arizona's U.S. senators or national politics? Reach the reporter on Twitter and Facebook. Contact her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com and 602-444-4712.

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