The Center for Civic Education mourns the passing of long-serving Board of Directors member Carmen Ramírez, who passed away on Friday, August 12, in Oxnard, California, where she had recently served as mayor pro tem. She died of her injuries after having been struck by a vehicle at a crosswalk. 

“Our community is devastated today by this terrible news,” said Center President Christoper R. Riano. “Carmen’s legacy of selfless service to her community and to civic education is a model we can all look up to. We will honor her memory by continuing her work of promoting equitable access to a constitutional and civic education for all.”

Ramírez, who was serving as the Chair of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, dedicated her life to public service.

Graduating from Loyola School of Law in Los Angeles in 1974, she was admitted to the California State Bar that same year. For 16 years she was the Executive Director of the Channel Counties Legal Services Association, which served the legal needs of the poor in Ventura and Santa Barbara County. For nine years afterward, she was the Coordinator of the Ventura Superior Court’s Self-Help Legal Center in the Colonia neighborhood of Oxnard, serving the Spanish-speaking community. She maintained a private legal practice focusing social security disability and consumer law matters, as well as pro bono assistance.

In 1998, she was President of the Ventura County Bar Association and was active in bar activities. From 2005 to 2008, she was an elected member of the State Bar Board of Governors, overseeing the practice of the legal profession in California.

She also served for the city of Oxnard on the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, the Ventura County Animal Services Commission, and Ventura County’s Local Agency Formation Commission. She was on the regional council of the Southern California Association of Government and was a member of its Energy and Environment Committee. In 2012, she was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve on the California Commission on State Mandates.

Ramírez was active in many community organizations in Ventura County, including the Ventura County Community Foundation, El Concilio Del Condado de Ventura, Teatro de Las Americas, and the Ventura County Community Foundation. She was also a trustee of the Colleges of Law for Santa Barbara and Ventura County.

Information about funeral arrangements will be posted here when they become available.