John Delloro, labor leader and teacher, dies at 38

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John Delloro, national president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, executive director of the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute and a UCLA instructor, has died. He was 38.

Delloro died June 5 of a heart attack, said his wife, Susan A. Suh.

Delloro was elected last year as national president of the Asian Pacific labor group. It is the only national organization for Asian Pacific American union members, said Kent Wong, director of UCLA’s Center for Labor Research and Education and the group’s founding president.

The Dolores Huerta institute, named after the United Farm Workers co-founder, works to expand labor studies in the Los Angeles Community College District. Delloro had been executive director since 2006.

Winfred John Delloro was born Aug. 29, 1971, in Port Reading, N.J. His family moved to California in 1984, and he graduated from Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills in 1989. Delloro graduated from College of the Canyons in 1991. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a specialization in Asian American studies in 1994 and a master’s in Asian American studies in 1996, both from UCLA.

‘John was a brilliant student while at UCLA. He had the option of pursuing many career paths,’ Wong said. ‘But he was dedicated to improving the lives of working people.’

Delloro, who taught Asian American studies at UCLA, also taught at Los Angeles Trade Technical College’s Labor Center.

In addition to his wife, Delloro is survived by his children, Mina and Malcolm; his parents, Celinia and Winfred Delloro, and a brother, Alvin.

Services have been held, but there will be a public memorial from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the East Los Angeles College auditorium, Wong said. The college is at 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez in Monterey Park.

-- Keith Thursby