Raul Hector Castro, Arizona's first Hispanic governor, has died.
Castro was 98.
The 1949 UA law school alum served as Pima County attorney, Pima County Superior Court judge, Arizona governor, and ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina.
In December 2009, when the University of Arizona law school dedicated a portrait in his honor, Castro gave a short speech, joking that he is "older than Santa Claus."
Students and faculty delighted in his story about taking the bar exam, when the letter "L" fell off his typewriter, and he was forced to include a footnote explaining the problem.
Castro, born in 1916, was the second-youngest of 14 children born to Francisco and Rosario Castro.
The family moved from Cananea, Sonora, to Pirtleville, Ariz., near Douglas when Castro was a child.
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His father, a miner in Douglas, died when Castro was 12.
After graduating from Douglas High School Castro, a multi-sport athlete, enrolled in what was then Arizona State Teachers College in Flagstaff on a football scholarship.
The same year he graduated - 1939 - he became an American citizen.
He became a Superior Court judge in Tucson and eventually the state's first Mexican-American governor, a post he won in 1974.
He then served ambassadorships to El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina. He was called "Yankee Castro" to differentiate him from the other Raul Castro — the brother of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Family spokesman James Garcia told the Associated Press that Castro died in his sleep Friday in San Diego, where he was in hospice care.
"America is the land of opportunity," Castro told The Associated Press in 2010. "Here, one can accomplish whatever they want to be. But you've got to work for it."
