Luis Flores, immigrant who became FBI agent, is remembered

Growing up in one of the toughest neighborhoods on Chicago’s northwest side, Luis Flores could have easily gone the way of many kids his age.

Fatherless and financially struggling, Flores went to a high school where the dropout rate was more than 70%, the streets were ruled by Puerto Rican gangs and the odds were good that you would end up in jail, or worse, if you didn’t get out.

But he did: attending college, earning a law degree, joining the FBI and traveling the world before settling in Los Angeles and working at the bureau here for 10 years.

On Saturday, Flores’ inspirational life was celebrated by 600 people at a memorial service in Santa Monica after his death Feb. 23 at his Culver City home, one day after his 46th birthday. Flores died of stomach cancer less than a year after it was diagnosed. His friends announced the establishment of the Luis G. Flores Educational Foundation for underprivileged youths in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Even as a boy from El Salvador, Flores was confident that he would have a better life, attorney Steve Rayder recalled. When he met Rayder at an after-school program in Chicago’s rough Humboldt Park neighborhood, he was encouraged to pursue his dreams of becoming an attorney, helping other Latinos and escaping the destiny of so many young men he grew up with.

Flores finished high school and went to the University of Illinois for a degree in political science. He attended law school at the University of Notre Dame. By age 26, he had joined the FBI, first investigating cases as an agent and later becoming an attorney who helped guide the bureau’s legal research. His assignments also included U.S. Embassy offices in Madrid and Panama City.

A few days before the service, Rayder recalled that Flores had a spark that distinguished him.

“Luis was easily the most interested, the most motivated student I had,” said the 63-year-old attorney, who now lives in Florida. “If there are self-made men born to be successful, he was one of them.”

After Flores’ school program ended, he became pals with Rayder’s son.

“They became very close, and he was around our house a lot,” Rayder recalled. “He really wanted a father more than a mentor.”

Rayder stayed in touch with Flores, watching the young man finish law school and struggle to decide what he wanted to do with his degree. When an FBI recruiter visited Notre Dame, Rayder said, Flores decided that would be his career.

As a case agent beginning in 1987, he conducted investigations in such areas as organized crime, narcotics and counterintelligence. But he found his niche as a division counsel for the FBI office in Los Angeles, eventually managing a staff whose responsibilities included criminal prosecutions and providing legal counsel for agents.

For years, he was also the office’s spokesman for Spanish-language media. His survivors include his wife, Pilar; and children, Diego, 7, and Carolina, 4.

Flores’ colleagues and acquaintances have raised tens of thousands of dollars to defray his medical expenses and help his family. One golf tournament alone netted $25,000.

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greg.krikorian@latimes.com