University of Arizona alumnus Raúl Héctor Castro, who overcame hardship and discrimination to become Arizona's only Mexican-American governor and a U.S. ambassador, died Friday, April 10 in San Diego at the age of 98.

Castro had many ties to the UA, including his graduation from the James E. Rogers College of Law, his support of a scholarship fund in the Center for Latin American Studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and his donation of his manuscript collection to Special Collections at the University of Arizona.

"We are honored to preserve Raúl Castro’s papers in Special Collections, where they are available to Arizona citizens and scholars worldwide," said Karen Williams, dean of University Libraries.

Williams noted that portions of Castro’s papers have been digitized and a Web exhibit is available for viewing at http://digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu/x/exhibits/rhcastro. In addition, a physical exhibit of Castro’s papers is on display until May 1st in the Special Collections reading room.

To learn more about Castro, see photos and post on the message board, go to http://governorcastro.arizona.edu/.