Mario Rene Suarez; Chronicler of Barrio Life

Mario Rene Suarez, 74, a Latino author who chronicled life in the barrios and was credited with introducing the term “Chicano” in print. Suarez, the son of refugees from the Mexican Revolution, was born in Tucson, served in the Navy and attended the University of Arizona, where he began writing short stories or “sketches” about barrio life. Southwestern writer Edward Simmen said Suarez was the first American of Mexican descent writing in English to be published in a prestigious U.S. journal--Arizona Quarterly, in 1947. In 1958, Suarez moved to Los Angeles, where he worked with Eastside youth. He also taught remedial English and Chicano studies at Cal State Pomona for 22 years. His best known work, published in major Chicano literary anthologies, was “El Hoyo.” On Friday in San Dimas.