Vásquez y Sánchez co-founded the arts and cultural organization Centro Cultural Aztlan. His work as an artist included the Bexar County Coat of Arms and well-regarded paintings of the San Antonio Missions. As an activist, he pressed for the inclusion of Mexican American and Tejano stories in the Alamo narrative.

“There’s so many areas where he had a major impact,” Vasquez said. “I think the one thing that we want people to know is that his consciousness of injustice spanned everything he did in his life. Whether it was raising his children or painting, fighting against injustice was embedded in everything that he did.”

Vásquez y Sánchez died Monday from complications from diabetes. He was 83.

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As news of his death spread, his family was inundated with phone calls from people expressing their condolences. They also took note of social media posts that wished their father peace and thanked him for his mentorship and his work for the community.

“All this love that we’ve received as a family has made this transition of our life, our new life as siblings and as children without our father much, much easier,” his son said. “My god, the mayor called us when he passed. We are so grateful for all of that.”

A celebration of life is slated for 6 to 8 p.m. June 1 on the West Side. The exact location is still being worked out, because the family wants to make sure it’s someplace large enough to accommodate everyone likely to turn up to say goodbye.

Vásquez y Sánchez grew up on the West Side, attending Brackenridge Elementary School and Lanier High School before going to San Antonio College.

He became a fierce advocate for equity in city arts funding, emphasizing that San Antonio’s art and artists are what set it apart.

“I remember him going to City Council and saying, ‘You want to continue funding the symphony? What for? Beethoven is in Boston and Beethoven is in L.A. and Beethoven is everywhere,’” recalled Malena Gonzalez-Cid, executive director of Centro Cultural Aztlan. ” ‘When you come to San Antonio, no. It’s us. It’s the brown faces and the cultural experiences.’ “

Those experiences include public Día de Los Muertos commemorations, which Vásquez y Sánchez has been credited with popularizing in the city.

He also ran Centro’s visual arts program for decades, creating a sense of community and providing much-needed encouragement.

“He would say, ‘I may not be a fan of his or her work, but I’m not going to be the one to crush their dream. Because I know they’re going to get better,’” Gonzalez-Cid said. “When you have a nucleus of all these artists getting together, that’s what they do. They inspire each other.”

He also served as a tribal council member for the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation for more than 30 years. And he helped found American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, a nonprofit that works to preserve the culture and traditions of Indigenous people who lived in the missions.

His son is executive director of the organization, which opened a new center on the East Side in March.

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“I stand on his shoulders,” he said.

City Councilwoman Rosie Castro worked alongside Vásquez y Sánchez, including on a campaign to bring more Latino voices and faces into media at a time when that was rare. They also were involved with the Chicano political party La Raza Unida, for which he did a lot of graphic design.

“I think he did a great deal for the city in terms of not only the arts, but trying to make sure people understood where many people in San Antonio came from, and the Native Americans that were here and the work they had done to build the missions and to build other parts of the city,” Castro said.

She said that there is a large photo of him outside her office at City Hall.

“I see his picture every day and get to think about his contributions,” she said,

State Sen. José Menéndez praised Vásquez y Sánchez’s gifts as an artist and an activist, recalling his fight for descendants of those buried at the Alamo to pray at the site.

“He was so gracious,” Menéndez said. “I think he was effective because he would always strive to reason. It was never an adversarial, argumentative position — it was, ‘Let me exlain my position.’ He took his creativity that God blessed him with for the artwork that he produced, and think he applied that same thing to fighting injustice and inequality.

“He was a special guy. And I think we need more people like that, who are thinking more not just about themselves, but their surrounding community and the people that came before them and the people that are going to come after them.”

In a statement, Urban-15 co-founder George Cisneros noted Vásquez y Sánchez’s wisdom and sense of mission.

“Ramón was a leader, artist, husband, father, elder, son and friend,” Cisneros said. “He fought his entire life for justice and equity. He was insistent on crushing the Hollywood-driven caricatures and stereotypes that defined how white America sees the Indigenous people who have lived here for over 10,000 years. I will miss his obstinate, lovable, cantankerous, jokester spirit.”

On top of all of the things Vásquez y Sánchez did in his public life, he was a devoted family man who was adored by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, his son said.

“When you hear about fathers, ‘he taught me how to play football, he taught me how to fish,’ you’re not going to hear that about my dad,” Vasquez said. “What he did do was, we were in the marches for civil rights, we were there by his side as children. So he instilled in us that consciousness of things that were not right.”

Vásquez y Sánchez is survived by his wife, Maria Chavez; his children, Ramon Juan Vasquez, Edna Marie Vasquez and Marisol Vasquez; 11 grandchildren, five children; and his brother and sister.

In his last days, he marked his 83rd birthday with a party — “He loved parties, and I think he was like, ‘I’m not going out without one last party,” his son said  — and was surrounded by his wife and children

“At the very end, he looked at us, closed his eyes and went very, very peacefully,” Vasquez said. “He did even that better than anybody I know of. He knew what was going on, but he didn’t get bitter, he wasn’t mad — none of that. He went out like a champ.”

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN