The family of Anthony, Texas businessman Adrian Emilio Baca announced that he died “surrounded by his loving family” on June 18 at the age of 87.
Born in Ciudad Juárez and arriving in the United States as an infant, Baca graduated from the New Mexico Military Institute and opened his Anthony, Texas grocery store, La Feria, after military service. His father, Macario Baca, had also been a grocer who ran a similarly-named grocery store in El Paso.
Baca’s career also led him to delve into real estate, politics and journalism (as founder of the Rio Grande Gazette). He was also known as the largest property owner in the community, whose holdings included rental housing and three shopping centers.
He served for a term on the town council and four terms as mayor, retiring in 1985.
His time in office was colorful at times. A dispute with the town’s housing authority drew national news coverage in 1983, when the agency rebuffed the mayor by vacating its town offices and relocating in the adjacent community of Anthony, N.M. – three blocks away yet across a state line.
In Baca’s obituary, his family remembered him as humorous, hard-working and highly fond of sunsets and desserts.
“He demanded excellency from all because he was an excellent man, and yet gently reminded us high expectations were for our own good,” they wrote.
