Beloved Social Justice Advocate, Paul Schrade (Dec. 17, 1924- Nov. 9, 2022)

Board Member Mónica García and Los Angeles Unified celebrate the life of beloved social justice advocate, Paul Schrade. Schrade was known for his leadership among the United Automobile Workers Union and for being a close friend to former U.S. Senator, Robert F. Kennedy. More so, he is remembered for surviving the 1968 shooting that led to Kennedy’s assassination. In 1968, Paul Schrade, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta stood inside the old Ambassador Hotel by a podium set for Kennedy who had just won the California Primary. Before the tragic incident that led to the fall of a great leader and a nation’s history, it was Schrade who introduced Kennedy to powerful labor leaders like Chavez and Huerta, and promised a fight for justice. Schrade was instrumental in transforming the Ambassador Hotel into the now Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles Unified, a pilot school community educating students to be college, career and world ready. The Paul Schrade Library at RFK Community Schools holds a collection of Kennedy’s memorabilia and archive material for student research.

Schrade was raised in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and attended Yale University for a short time before working at North American Aviation in Los Angeles. Schrade was 97.

“Paul Schrade was a fierce warrior for humanity and justice,” Board Member Mónica García said. “He carried on the work he began with Senator Robert F. Kennedy and brought Senator Kennedy’s vision, values and energy to the fight to build the RFK Community Schools. We celebrate his love and life. Our most sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.”

“As an auto workers union leader and ally of Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and the farm workers’ movement, Paul Schrade was deeply invested in the labor movements of the 1960s,” Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. “Mr. Schrade was also instrumental in the struggle to acquire the Ambassador Hotel site after its demolition, and build the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. The school’s library was named in honor of Mr. Schrade, and houses a collection of Kennedy memorabilia and archival materials for student research. Mr. Schrade will be missed, but his legacy of championing the rights of labor workers lives on.”

“Mr. Schrade’s advocacy and leadership helped Los Angeles Unified transform the Ambassador Hotel into the RFK Complex which now offers a quality educational program for students of color,” Interim Chief Academic Officer Frances Baez said. “He played a key role in the United Farm workers’ movement with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. His life has left an imprint in our community.”

“The Koreatown-Pico Union Community of Schools mourns the loss of Paul Schrade today,” Community of Schools Administrator Chiae Byun-Kitayama said. “He was a Union leader who survived a bullet to the head when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated and embraced the spirit of RFK by supporting Civil Rights. Schrade was also instrumental in advocating that the Ambassador Hotel be turned into a school in honor of the fallen leader. We will miss him very much.”

“Mr. Paul Schrade was a bright light of happiness that will be missed greatly by those who knew him and all of us here at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools Campus,” Administrators of the RFK Community Schools said. “The Paul Schrade library continues his legacy of social justice as a safe place for relevant and accessible information and supporting students to make a positive change.”