While serving as Mexico’s consul based in Atlanta in 1989 and then consul general in 2001, Teodoro Maus often was the butt of criticism for his support of the issuance of drivers’ licenses to undocumented workers and other measures supporting the living conditions and rights of Latinos in the region.
On Wed., April 22, however, he was the object of what turned out to be a love fest at a luncheon held at the Holiday Inn Atlanta on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. One hundred and fifty supporters joined together to celebrate his 80 years as well as his dedication to the Latino communities.
The collection of personal friends, corporate representatives, community leaders, students, artists, musicians, and street activists made for a heady mix of celebrants who listened to one testimonial after another of personal reminiscences about Mr. Maus’ impact on their lives.
The sounds of the Mariachi band as the celebrants entered the dinning hall soon were overshadowed by greetings and recollections.
Sam Zamarripa, the former state senator turned investment adviser, served as a leading organizer and master of ceremonies. Instead of an accounting of Mr. Maus’ career, Mr. Zamarripa recounted how Mr. Maus taught him to make a tomatillo sauce verde.
A tomatillo sauce verde, he learned, is composed of many ingredients, but never succeeds unless it is accompanied by “the secret sauce that you bring.”
“The secret sauce is ‘about you,’” he was told by Mr. Maus, whose cooking and hospitality were often praised at the event.
Mr. Maus had an eclectic background before joining Mexico’s foreign service in 1978. He was trained as an architect and taught architectural design. He also was a painter whose work was exhibited in Mexico City and became an art director and set designer in the film industry.
His diplomatic career included in addition to his service as consul general a term as a cultural attache in New York, and as a representative in Washington of Mexico’s environmental and natural resource interests. He retired in 2004 with the rank of ambassador.
Following his retirement from the foreign service, he returned to Atlanta where he founded and served as president of the Celia & Marcos Scholarship Fund, providing scholarships to Latino undocumented students.
He also co-founded the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), and is a producer and anchor of a talk radio program in Spanish, GLAHR INFOMRA, which is broadcast from Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. in Atlanta.
Even as he served at the forefront of human rights initiatives on behalf of undocumented workers, he became a U.S. citizen in August, 2006.
Mr. Zamarripa told Global Atlanta that he felt Mr. Maus’ support came from such a wide variety of individuals because he could communicate on multiple levels. “If you are a social activist, an artist, an intellectual or a corporate executive, he can talk with you and understand you,” he said.
He added that Mr. Maus represented on a regional level what civil rights leaders such as Andrew Young or John Lewis have on a national level.
“There hasn’t been a Selma or even a St. Louis to galvanize national attention for the Latino movement,” he said. “Teodoro is the equivalent of our early stage leadership. He laid the foundation and has inspired many people.”
America Gruner, founder of the Coalition of Latino Leaders, told Global Atlanta that she came to the luncheon from Dalton where she lives because she wanted to honor Mr. Maus’ civic involvement “when nobody cared.”
She added that she considers his modesty and humility as distinguishing traits. At her table, however, were the street activists from GLAHR who repeatedly burst out in choruses of slogans in Spanish including “Teodoro Lives, the Fight Continues.”
A personal address from former Gov. Roy Barnes also was projected on a large screen to the side at the front of the banquet hall in which he recalled a meeting with an ambassador from Mexico to whom he was introduced by Mr. Maus.
“I’ll never forget what the ambassador told me,” Mr. Barnes said from behind a large desk in his office at the Barnes Law Group LLC. “You are getting the best people we have who have walked 1,000 miles to be able to work here. That has stuck with me.”
Pedro “Pete” Marin, a native of Puerto Rico and a state representative from Duluth, presented Mr. Maus with a House Resolution, praising his accomplishments.
A long list of others also spoke including students from the Georgia DREAMers, a coalition of students and their supporters of the DREAM Act that would grant a conditional residency of six years to thousands of undocumented students who were brought to the U.S. as children.
Roberto Hernandez, an artist who has launched a career providing elaborate murals and other forms of art for corporate events, recounted how he was encouraged by Mr. Maus at age 8 to develop his skills. A description of Mr. Hernandez’s work may be found by clicking here.
Among the many others who spoke of their appreciation for Mr. Maus were Rudy Bessera, an executive with the Coca-Cola Co., and Susanna Chavez, executive vice president of the Parking Company of America.
But it was Mr. Maus who had the last word, saying that his hope for the future lies in his confidence in the 8- to 10-year-olds that he knows.
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