Key keywords: Hector Rodriguez, 2026 obituary, McAllen TX, McAllen Funeral Home, Rio Grande Valley community leader, first-generation college advocate, McAllen Independent School District, McAllen Food Bank, funeral service arrangements McAllen Funeral Home has formally published the official obituary for lifelong McAllen, Texas resident Hector Rodriguez, who passed away peacefully in his home on April 12, 2026, at the age of 78, surrounded by his wife of 54 years, Maria, his immediate family, and lifelong close friends. Born and raised in McAllen to Mexican immigrant farmworker parents who harvested citrus across the Rio Grande Valley, Rodriguez dedicated his entire 78-year life to lifting up the low-income, majority-Latino community that raised him. He spent 32 years employed by the McAllen Independent School District, first as a 9th to 12th grade English and ethnic studies teacher, then as a district-wide student support coordinator, where he launched the district’s first ever first-generation college mentorship program in 1998. That program, which now serves more than 800 students annually, has raised the college enrollment rate for Latino students in McAllen ISD by 47% since its launch, according to 2025 district data. Outside of his education career, Rodriguez was a founding board member of the McAllen Food Bank, where he volunteered for 27 years, and established the Rio Grande Valley First Gen Scholarship Fund in 2011, which has awarded over $2.8 million in need-based scholarships to more than 1,200 local first-generation college students to date. He was also a lifelong active member of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in McAllen, where he taught Sunday school for 22 years and led the church’s annual holiday toy drive for low-income families. Rodriguez is survived by his wife Maria, two sons Carlos and Luis Rodriguez, four grandchildren, his younger sister Carmen Garcia, and dozens of nieces, nephews, and extended family members across the Rio Grande Valley. McAllen Funeral Home has announced public visitation services will be held on Thursday, April 18, 2026, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the funeral home’s main location on North 10th Street, with a rosary service starting at 7 p.m. A Catholic funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 19, 2026, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, followed by a graveside service at Valley Memorial Gardens in McAllen. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Rio Grande Valley First Gen Scholarship Fund in Rodriguez’s name. McAllen Mayor Javier Villarreal released a public statement on April 13 honoring Rodriguez, calling him “a cornerstone of the McAllen community whose quiet, consistent impact will be felt for generations to come.”