Media pioneer María Martin, creator of the groundbreaking, award-winning public radio program "Latino USA," died Saturday after complications from a medical procedure. She was 72.
Martin dedicated much of her professional life to bringing the voices and stories of U.S. Latinos and Latin Americans to English-language public radio. In doing so, she helped inspire and launch the careers of a cadre of Latino journalists in the U.S. and Central America.
Friends and family said in a message that she died "in a room full of peace and love surrounded by her family" and her friends "at every corner of the world holding her up."
Martin's long ambition had been to bring diversity to media, public radio in particular, a goal that brought her both joy and heartache, but which she never abandoned.
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