Otilio Díaz was born 1930 in Guayama, near the southern coast of Puerto Rico. He earned a B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico and an M.S. in Educational Administration from Fordham University.

In Puerto Rico, Mr. Díaz worked as an elementary, junior and high school teacher. He also served with the Puerto Rican Department of Agriculture’s Administration of Social Programs for several years. In New York City, Mr. Díaz worked with the Migration Division of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as a migration specialist and as a supervisor of the agency’s education and community organization programs.

He then served as a program planner and proposal writer with the South Bronx Model Cities Program and as a school supervisor in charge of Bilingual Education for School District 10 in the Bronx and District 4 in Manhattan. Mr. Díaz also worked as an adjunct lecturer for the Department of Puerto Rican Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Mr. Díaz was a founding member of the Borinquen Lions Club and former president of Community School Board # 7 and the Pamela Torres Day Care Center. He served as a consultant to “Damas Unidas de America,” the Puerto Rican Forum, the Center for Urban Education and the Puerto Rican Folklore Festival, and was an honorary member of the Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York.

Throughout his career, Mr. Díaz regularly received pubic acknowledgement for his community service work and received awards from the Association of Puerto Rican Mayors, the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the “Instituto de Puerto Rico” in New York City, the Hispanics Educators Association of the Bronx, the Great Council of Hispanic Organizations of New York City, the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club of the Bronx, the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, the Neighbor Association of San Sebastián Street in Old San Juan, and “Los Hijos del Viejo San Juan Association.”

In 1981, Mr. Díaz joined La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc as its Executive Director. Over the next 25 years, he worked diligently to promote traditional Puerto Rican arts and culture, including folkloric dancing and music - and to welcome frequent visitors from Puerto Rico and other Latin American nations. Intensely proud of his heritage, Mr. Díaz was also instrumental in the agency's acquisition of thousands of books and artifacts from and about Puerto Rico. As a result, La Casa is greatly appreciated by many in the Puerto Rican and Latino community.

English biography by Marina Ortiz (Click here to read Spanish version)

OTHER ARTICLES

Velorio de líder boricua Otilio Díaz (El Diario/La Prensa, 31 de Agosto de 2006)

Serrano Salutes Life of Otilio Diaz (Press Release, August 31, 2006)

The Path and Passing of Don Otilio Díaz (New York Latino Journal, August 29, 2006)

Muere fundador de Casa de la Herencia Cultural (El Diario/La Prensa, August 23, 2006)

Don Otilio Diaz, Beloved Executive Director of La Casa, Dies August 21 (August 25, 2006)