Senator Art Torres (Retired), the Vice Chair of the CIRM Board, has had a pretty amazing life – you can read about some of his accomplishments here – and has received many honors. Last week he received one more. Art was given the Dolores Huerta Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Latino Heritage Month Celebration.

This is no small honor. Dolores Huerta is one of the most influential labor and civil rights activists of the 20^th century, so to receive this award is a testament to the dedication and commitment that Art has demonstrated over many years to health care, education, the environment and human rights among other things.

Fun fact. Dolores Huerta was the co-founder, along with Cesar Chavez, of the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW), which was instrumental in getting better working conditions and wages for farm workers. One of Art’s first jobs, as a young lawyer, was working with the UFW and Dolores Huerta was his boss.

The award ceremony was something of a family affair as the MC for the event was Joaquin Torres, Art’s son and the current Assessor-Recorder for San Francisco. Dolores Huerta sent a video greeting, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed presented him with a Certificate of Honor, praising Art for:  “your advocacy and passion to secure critical funding for stem cell research, support our immigrant communities, and uplift our Latino residents has made you a true cornerstone of our city.”