Raul Alvarez Villarreal

Mr. Villarreal was predeceased by his father and mother, Francisco Villarreal and Alejandra; his brothers, Ramiro Villarreal and Francisco Valentin, and his infant son, Joseph R. Villarreal.

Mr. Villarreal was born and raised in Brownsville. He joined the Army Air Corps six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served as a Sergeant in the China-Burma-India Theater. His GI benefits enabled him to attend law school at St. Mary's and the South Texas College of Law and he became a licensed attorney in 1951.

During his 50 years as an attorney, Raul was a general practitioner and handled criminal as well as civil matters. He was one of the first Hispanic attorneys to argue before the United States Supreme Court, successfully getting a murder conviction and death sentence overturned in the precedent setting case of Alvaro Alcorta vs. State of Texas. During his career, Mr. Villarreal served as legal counsel for the American GI Forum, a Hispanic civil rights group and also helped to establish the predecessor organization to the Mexican American Bar Association.

Mr. Villarreal will be remembered for his kindness, compassion, wisdom, wit, tenacity and most of all, his intellect.

He is survived by his wife, Janie F. Villarreal, his daughters, Diane Villarreal, Crystal and husband, Martin Trevino, Mary Alice and husband, David Przybylski, and Alejandra I. Villarreal and husband, Manuel Tovar, Carmen Fritz of Round Rock; step-daughters, Alma Alcocer and Mary Frances Campa; step-son, Pete Campa III and wife, Maria; numerous grandchildren, one great grandson and many nieces and nephews and other relatives.

The family would like to thank the many doctors and nursing staff who cared for him during his long illness, particularly, the wonderful staff at Specialty Hospital of San Antonio formerly IHS for their kindness, compassion and excellent care.