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Hello, Downtown!
Husband-and-wife Ted Martinez Jr., Ph.D, and Lidia S. Martinez will receive this year’s top award from the San Diego Rotary Club. They’re the first Latino couple (and one of just a handful of couples) to receive the Mr./Mrs./Ms. San Diego award.
Given out since 1952, the award recognizes significant volunteer efforts to improve San Diego.
“Lidia and Ted truly exemplify Rotary’s motto of Service Above Self,” said entrepreneur Patti Roscoe, a past president of San Diego Rotary and recipient of the Mr./Mrs./Ms. San Diego Award. “Their volunteer and community work, leadership through action, and wonderful sense of humor make them the perfect couple for this Life Achievement Award.”
The Martinezes have been together for 44 years. They’ve lived in San Diego for 27 years including the past 15 in downtown’s Marina District.
One of seven children, Ted grew up in a migrant farmworking family. As a youngster, a teacher helped him get into a college track. Ted went on to become a community college president and chancellor, including serving at Grossmont College (1997 to 2007). In 2003, he founded the National Community College Hispanic Council Leadership Fellows Program. The organization helps emerging leaders gain access to mentorship and professional networking.
During Lidia’s 30 years with Southwest Airlines, she helped establish the company’s multicultural affairs department. She’s a first-generation college graduate, coming from a family of 11 siblings. Lidia received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from San Diego State University in 2022. Today, through ¡Adelante! Strategies and her service on multiple nonprofit and civic boards, Lidia advises organizations on strategic partnerships, community engagement, leadership and philanthropy.
“Everything we have built in San Diego including our marriage, our family and our work, has grown out of the belief that a community is only as strong as the people willing to open doors for one another,” Lidia said.
The San Diego Rotary Club will recognize the Martinezes at a luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 12.
Ron Donoho
Downtown News newsletter host
Downtown story spotlight
Rotary’s first Latino Mr. & Mrs. San Diego: A volunteer dynamic duo
By Ron Donoho • Special for Times of San Diego
Ted and Lidia S. Martinez spent years in education and business before focusing on a wide variety of volunteer work, including at the Midway Museum.
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