TSC TRUSTEE, ATTORNEY, RUBEN HERRERA DIES IN SPAIN

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

It is with a heavy heart that we have confirmed that local attorney and Texas Southmost College trustee Ruben Herrera died suddenly in Madrid, Spain where he was traveling with his brother-in-law from Brownsville. He was 63.

Early indications are that he died of a blood clot that triggered a heart attack. He had undergone a quadruple heart bypass recently. The photo above was taken in a Madrid restaurant shortly before he succumbed. 

Ruben, originally from Matamoros, Tamps., Mexico where he and his father ran a newspaper, emigrated to the United States in 1988 and he enrolled at Texas Southmost College. He had originally thought of taking up criminal justice, but then attended law school and passed the bar exam to become an attorney.

The Texas Southmost website sates that he was first elected to the board in 2016. Prior to being elected chair by his fellow board members, he served as board secretary and vice chair.

Herrera was no stranger to the challenges students face as they enroll at TSC for the first time.

After moving to the Rio Grande Valley from Matamoros in 1988 without any high school credentials, TSC became a sign of hope and changed his life for the better.

“I wanted to be a police officer, but with no high school diploma it was going to be difficult getting accepted into the academy,” he said. “But with TSC’s help, I took all of the proper assessments I needed to be placed in the correct classes. And the rest…history.”

Herrera went on to earn an associate degree in general studies and in law enforcement and credits his success to his instructors and his time in the TSC honors program.

“I had the best time at TSC,” he said. “We have a distinguished group of instructors, always have and always will. They care about their students’ success and educational experiences.”

Through his experiences and cultural immersion trips to Mexico as part of the honors program, Herrera gained confidence and motivation to not only pursue a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, but also go to law school.

“My goal was to graduate from TSC, apply to the border patrol or other agencies and work in law enforcement, but there were other plans for me,” he said. “I decided to become an attorney.”

Herrera was a practicing criminal defense attorney with his office in Brownsville.

“It was never my plan to become a public figure. All of it was so new to me,” he said. “But I’m proud of TSC and what it did for me and what it does for our community. I am a product of TSC and I felt it was my duty to serve the college.”

Among his latest accomplishments was the grand opening of the Legal Center at TSC just this past January 25. Ruben headed the committee behind the Law Center project, and at its ribbon cutting thanked the other members of the board.

Herrera said he especially wanted to thank retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio of the Southern District of Texas and O’Malley for their role in the project.

“We had many differences about how this would play out, and at the end, what a beautiful place,” he said.

“I have a dream to have this courtroom used by the JP courts, the Cameron County Court-at-Law courts, state District Courts, and if possible the federal courts … but this is yours to use, and it’ll be a learning opportunity for our students. What better than to have a court hearing, a trial, that our students will be in those chairs and they will go out and deliberate as to what happened and why those things happened,” Herrera said.

We extend our condolences to his family and his friends. He will be missed. RIP my friend.