Fabian Chávez, Jr.

Fabian Chávez, Jr. was a former New Mexico state legislator, and political figure in state politics. He was instrumental in passing legislation to establish the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Background
Fabian Chávez, Jr., was born on August 31, 1924. His father was a carpenter, and moved the family from Wagon Mound to Santa Fe, where Fabian was born and would live most of his 88 years. Early on, the New Mexico Capitol would dominate his life. And he would dominate it in return.

His father worked as the building superintendent at the old capitol building. As a young boy, trying to earn pocket money during the Great Depression, Fabian could be found there shining shoes. He later told his biographer that while other kids were playing marbles, he was watching legislators at work, following their every move. He observed, “I had it all memorized years before I was even elected to my first term in the house.”

Fabian was an independent spirit. Even as a youngster, he charted his own course, sometimes perhaps to his parents' dismay. The story is told of his hitchhiking to California at age 12. He joined the Army at age 16, determined to see battle during World War II. He fought at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

At the age of 25, Fabian met Coral Jeanne, the love of his life. Fabian and Coral Jeanne were married in 1954. Of his beloved wife, Fabian once said, “I started dancing with Coral Jeanne in 1949, and we've been dancing ever since.” She would be his unfailing support through the victories and defeats to come, until she died in his arms over a half century later.

Political Career
Chávez first ran for elective office in 1948, at the age of 24, for a seat in the New Mexico House. He came in second in the primary. He was undeterred, as he would show time and again. He was elected 2 years later. He ran unsuccessfully for the New Mexico Senate in 1952, but was elected in 1956. And within a few years, at age 37, he became the youngest Senate majority leader in the history of our State. In 1968, Fabian was the Democratic candidate for Governor, and lost by less than 3,000 votes. He later served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce under President Jimmy Carter.

The title of David Roybal's biography of Fabian Chávez, Jr., Taking on Giants, is telling. Fabian was a reformer, and a tenacious one. He fought to change the old justice of the peace system in New Mexico, fought to establish a Judicial Standards Commission, fought powerful insurance and liquor industries, fought early on, and courageously, for civil rights.

Death
Chávez died on January 20, 2013.

= Resources =