Frank Del Olmo — A True CSUN Inspiration

From living in the projects of the San Fernando Valley to becoming a well recognized columnist and reporter, Frank Del Olmo became a strong advocate and voice for the Latino community.

Del Olmo was born in Pacoima in 1948, where he was then raised in the projects.

He first attended UCLA but two years after his acceptance the journalism program shut down. This allowed him to transfer to CSUN where he could complete his degree in journalism.

In the late 60s, CSUN was experiencing immense protests. The Hispanic-American community didn’t feel like they were treated equally and they wanted to see a change. During this time Del Olmo wrote article pieces for both the Sundial and El Popo, a newspaper that was run by students in the Chicano studies department.

He graduated from CSUN in 1970 as an outstanding graduate of the university where he later moved on to intern for the LA Times. He worked for LA Times for a total of 34 years; first as an intern, then a writer and editor. He was one of the few Latino journalists, gaining a lot of respect and high prestige from others.

He was a strong advocate for the Latino community. He won both a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy for his work. However, at age 55 he was found dead in his office at the LA Times due to a heart attack. His work remains well known and recognized.

He used his writing as a form of battles to make the Latino voice heard. During this time “illegal aliens” was a well-known term to use for undocumented people. He fought for the rights of undocumented families with his writing by greatly reporting on the issue of government deportations.

With the help of scholarly articles and books, he was able to describe in his pieces that the government was indeed wrong. Both articles below illustrate the incorrect beliefs and myths the U.S. held against undocumented people.

Del Olmo argued many times that “illegal aliens” had lived in the territory of the United States and by deporting these millions of families nothing would be solved. Except the splitting of families. Years later this problem continues to emerge.

Evidently Del Olmo used a vast variety of elements to put together a piece. His hard work led to success and the recognition of Latinos in newspaper articles.