Memoriam IN LOVING MEMORY OF CESAR A. BATALLA 6/15/1945 - 7/30/1996 Husband, Father, Community Leader and Friend Your legacy will never be forgotten. We Miss You. LOVE YOUR WIFE, ALMA DAUGHTERS, ELIZABETH AND SARA

Birth:	Jun. 14, 1945 Puerto Rico, USA
Death:	Jul. 30, 1996 Connecticut, USA
Cesar Batalla, was a Public Relations supervisor for the Southern Connecticut Gas Co. in Bridgeport, CT at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife Alma and other relatives. ------------------------------------- The Cesar A. Batalla Elementary School, State Street, Bridgeport, Ct, was officially dedicated on Sunday, January 21, 2006. The dedication drew more than 400 people, including US. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, and two former Bridgeport school superintendents — Jim Connelly and Geraldine Johnson. School board vice president Maximino Medina, whose idea it was to name the school after Batalla, said the building should be a monument to what the city can do. Batalla, a longtime community activist, fought for political reform and equal access to quality education. He headed the Puerto Rican Coalition, which helped file suit to desegregate the schools. The case led to the creation of the city's magnet schools. Batalla died in 1996 of leukemia. He was 51. Majenta Rivera, an eighth-grader at Batalla, said she didn't know what a wonderful person Batalla was until she was called upon to speak about him at the ceremony. "He was an ordinary person, yet he became a role model for the Hispanic community," Rivera said. "He was someone always helping others. We are fortunate to be in a beautiful school named after a beautiful person." Batalla's daughter Sara, a teacher at the school, said she remembered attending the dedication of the Luis Muñoz Marin School — the city's last new school — 15 years ago with her father. Her father spoke at that ceremony. "If you told me I would be standing here today speaking at a school named after my father, I would never have believed it," she said. Like her father, Sara Batalla said she gets down sometimes looking at the poverty in Bridgeport. "We're two miles from Fairfield. The disparity is so enormous," she said. Like her father, Batalla said she also believes in the power of one person. "I couldn't think of a better profession to be in than to do this," she said of teaching. The $53.4 million, 146,000-square-foot structure can hold up to 1,080 students. The school opened two weeks ago, replacing Elias Howe, a 118-year-old building. It was designed by Fletcher Thompson and built by O&G Industries.