Raul Lozano always seemed like a quiet guy. In the nearly 20 years I knew him, I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice. But the impact he had in Santa Clara County was loud and clear.
Lozano — who spent a decade as executive director of Teatro Visión and went on to found the nonprofit Valley Verde — died Feb. 20 at age 68 at his home in San Jose. He had heart surgery toward the end of 2022 and had several subsequent medical complications, which ultimately proved too much for a guy who conquered obstacles his entire life.
“He just had the courage to do what he believed in,” said Jaime Alvarado, a longtime friend who organized a fundraising campaign to get Lozano back home from the hospital. “He was challenged every step of the way, but he never wavered. The dude was beloved.”
Former Santa Clara County Supervisor Blanca Alvarado agreed with her son. “For me, the best way to describe Raul is he was a humble giant, pure and simple,” she said.
Originally from the Central Valley, his first work in the Santa Clara Valley community was as an AmeriCorps volunteer with MACSA, the Mexican American Community Services Agency. He joined Teatro Visión’s board when San Jose’s Chicano theater company became a nonprofit organization and took the reins as its executive director in 1999. After a decade of building up the company and raising money for Teatro — all while becoming a major arts leader not just in the Latino community but in Silicon Valley — Lozano stepped down in 2009 and shifted gears entirely by going back to his roots.
Following in the footsteps of his father, a big home gardener, he saw what was happening to his neighbors during the Great Recession and decided he wanted to help teach people grow vegetables in their own backyards. He called the initiative La Mesa Verde, Spanish for the Green Table, and he soon joined forces with Sacred Heart Community Services in San Jose, which brought the program under its umbrella and made Lozano its program manager. Lozano spun it off into its own nonprofit, Valley Verde, two years later in 2011.
“People can grow their own food and eat it, share it, or even sell it to other families in the community,” he told me in 2021. The effort to ensure food security for low-income residents included seedling markets, where people could buy organic veggies to grow at home, and he made sure the offerings went beyond tomatoes and peas — adding culturally meaningful produce items like Thai basil, Chinese eggplant and hot peppers from different parts of the world.
Lozano had already planned to retire at the end of 2022, and Lovepreet Kaurhas taken over as executive director of Valley Verde, which continues to grow. But even after he got home from the hospital in February, Lozano was still looking forward, Alvarado said. During his last weekend, they went together to the Silicon Valley Auto Show; Lozano wanted to get his driver’s license renewed and get a new car.
A viewing and memorial service will be held at Lima Family Santa Clara Mortuary on March 19 at 2 p.m., followed by a Mass on March 20 at Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara. A community celebration of Lozano’s life is scheduled for 5 p.m. on April 13, what would have been his 69th birthday, at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose.
HERE COME THE IRISH: For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, a delegation from Dublin, San Jose’s sister city in Ireland, will be visiting Silicon Valley this coming week. The group will arrive Tuesday, and there will be a 10 a.m. flag raising at San Jose City Hall on March 8 to officially welcome them.
The annual San Jose Shamrock Run on March 11 also will be part of the visit, with Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan scheduled to kick off the 5K race through downtown San Jose, starting and ending at San Pedro Square. You can still sign up for the run — which includes a kids’ run and a beer at the finish for those 21 and over — at sanjoseshamrockrun.com.
CELEBRATIONS FOR A CAUSE: Larry Sonsini, senior founding partner of the law firm Wilson Sonsini, will be the honorary chair at “A Bright Night Gala,” the third annual fundraiser for the Northern California and Northern Nevada chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, on April 29 in downtown San Jose. The 6:30 p.m. event at the Glasshouse includes dinner and a live auction. Tickets and other details are available at www.alz.org/norcal/events/a-bright-night.
Sonsini says he’s seen the effects of Alzheimer’s and dementia and hopes the community will help make the event another success. Last year’s gala, the first one in person, raised more than $1 million to fund research and provide services for those living with Alzheimer’s and their families. “We’ve seen a lot of progress in Alzheimer’s research and treatment over the last few years and we’re excited to raise funds to help in those efforts while also providing much needed support services for families in our region,” he said.
Palo Alto Players is also bringing back its in-person fundraiser, “Be Our Guest,” on April 1 at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto. Besides dinner — and a generous portion of entertainment provided by the theater company’s performers — the evening also will honor Ed Hunter, Palo Alto Players’ longtime lighting designer, with its Leading Player award for his contributions to the local arts community. Tickets are available at www.paplayers.org.
SHIFTING VINTAGES: Make a note, wine lovers: Secco restaurant at the Hilton San Jose moved back the start of its Santa Cruz Mountains wine-tasting series a week to March 8, still kicking off with Thomas Fogarty. Tickets and the full weekly lineup through May 17 are available at Eventbrite.com by searching for “Santa Cruz wine tasting series.”