It is with great sadness that I relay the news of John's passing below.
I personally never knew him as anything more than a friendly face at demos and on picket lines -- when he made his way back to San Francisco from his extensive sojourns in Latin America -- but over the years we started to recognize each other with acknowledging smiles. And even though at the end he was missing many of his teeth, I will dearly miss that beautiful smile.
John Ross presente!
Hieronymous
Social activist, writer John Ross dies in Mexico at 72; documented Mexican life, politics
Associated Press
January 17, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO - Social activist and writer John Ross, the first American journalist to report on Mexico's Zapatista revolution, has died. He was 72.
Former colleague Mary Jo McConahay says Ross died Monday at the home of longtime friends on the island of Janitzio in Lake Patzcauro, Mexico. She says the cause was liver cancer.
Ross, a Beat poet and award-winning author, wrote primarily about life and politics in Mexico, where he spent most of the past 50 years.
He reported extensively on the Zapatista rebels, who staged a brief armed uprising for greater indigenous rights in southern Chiapas state in 1994. His work appeared in numerous newspapers in San Francisco and elsewhere.
In early 2003, Ross traveled to Iraq to volunteer as a human shield during U.S. bombing.
John Ross was a good guy.
John Ross was a good guy. I'll miss his invective against the bourgeoisie of San Francisco, "sanctuary city for the rich."