SAN DIEGO -- A memorial service is scheduled in Barrio Logan Saturday for musician and activist Ramon "Chunky" Moroyoqui Sanchez, who died in a San Diego hospital Oct. 28, two days before his 65th birthday.
The service is set for 11:30 a.m. at the kiosko at Chicano Park, which he helped to found. He was also a member of its steering committee.
Sanchez was born to Blythe farmworkers Josefina Moroyoqui and Ramon Sanchez Oct. 30, 1951, and had lived in San Diego since the 1970s. He is survived by his wife, Isabel Enrique Sanchez, and children Ixcatli, Ramon, Esmeralda, Mauricio and Tonantizin, 15 grandchildren and a great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by his son, Fernando Julio Sanchez, who died in 2010.
Sanchez cofounded the musical group Los Alacranes. Family members said the band's "Chicano Park Samba" expressed "the struggles and self- determination of the Chicano community in taking over and creating Chicano Park."
He also worked as a teacher, Little League coach and a director of a youth center, and was a die-hard Chargers fan, according to his family. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship in 2013, and performed at United Farm Workers rallies, sometimes at the request of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.
Throughout his life, Sanchez championed civil rights, and through his music provided prospective on "the bicultural experience," according to a GoFundMe page raising money to help his family with funeral costs.
A celebration of life is scheduled for the park at noon Sunday.
