Alfredo Calderón Santini, longtime Latino advocate, and president and CEO of Aspira Inc. of Pa., has died at 63

Alfredo Calderón Santini, 63, of Philadelphia, longtime Latino advocate, president and chief executive officer of Aspira Inc. of Pennsylvania, and Army veteran, died Monday, April 29, at his home. The cause of his death was not disclosed. His family said it was natural causes.

Mr. Calderón joined the Aspira Association’s Pennsylvania affiliate in Philadelphia as executive director in 2000 and, over the next two decades, spurred its expansion from a small nonprofit with fewer than 20 employees into an influential city organization that was, at times, a controversial one. Aspira Pennsylvania founded three charter schools in Philadelphia and managed two others for a time, and Mr. Calderón established a variety of educational, recreational, child care, and community programs, mostly in the Hunting Park, Olney, and Kensington neighborhoods of North Philadelphia.

The Washington-based Aspira Association has affiliates in seven states and Puerto Rico, and calls itself “the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to Hispanic education in the United States.” Mr. Calderón focused largely on expanding resources and opportunities for the sizable Puerto Rican student population in North Philadelphia, and he lobbied for greater representation on the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, championed student leadership initiatives and the role of parents in schools, and established programming partnerships with many other groups across the region.

He described Aspira’s community outreach as spanning “cradle to career,” and his family said in an online tribute that he refused pay raises for years so schools and students could benefit. “A humble servant leader, Mr. Calderón was a passionate and tireless advocate for the Latino students,” his family said.

He talked about his job to the Daily News in 2007 and said: “I love it. It takes a lot of time from me, but it’s worth it when I see the kids graduating from high school and college. It’s worth the time you put in.”

Mr. Calderón was active with the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, Taller Puertorriqueño, the Latino Leaders Network, and other groups. He organized parenting workshops and backed a city plan in 2002 to hire 250 parents as truancy officers.

He drew praise from parents and colleagues for his collaboration and creativity, and he told the Center for Education Reform in 2011: “We don’t do the cookie-cutter approach. We say, ‘OK, let’s set up the ideal school environment, and let’s figure out how to pay for it.’ We go get the money.”

His tenure also featured controversy and turmoil. Aspira Pennsylvania was criticized by parents, city and state officials, school district administrators, and its own staff repeatedly since 2010 for its business model, financial management, and personnel decisions.

Mr. Calderón defended the organization in a June 2016 letter to the editor of The Inquirer and said: “Aspira acknowledges the legitimate concerns of the School Reform Commission and the Charter Schools Office in taking all necessary steps to ensure renewed confidence in Aspira’s business model and practices going forward. But these concerns have no bearing on Aspira’s success in educating our community’s students. Ours is a record of outstanding achievement.”

» READ MORE: Mr. Calderón: Aspira is proud of its record with Olney and Stetson charter schools

In September 2016, Fox29 reported that a former female colleague of Mr. Calderón’s received a six-figure settlement after accusing him of sexual harassment and retaliation. Kevin Feeley, then spokesman for Aspiria, said then: “While he is legally prohibited from discussing the allegations, the reality is that under Alfredo’s leadership, Aspira has hired women in key leadership positions throughout the organization, and it has established a strict no-tolerance policy with respect to discrimination of any kind.”

Mr. Calderón was especially supportive of professional outreach to other educational advocacy groups and said during a 2016 panel discussion on charter schools: “There are other countries out there that are performing well. What are they doing right that we can assimilate, that we can take from them, and learn from them?”

One of his mottos was: “Build economic wealth through education and leaders.” He told the Daily News in 2010 that Aspira was serving about 2,000 students in Philadelphia. “A lot of the social services depend on keeping people in the cycle,” he said. “We want to get them out.”

» READ MORE: State questions Aspira's practices

He was named 2007 Professional of the Year by the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations and served on the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations from 2012 to 2016. “His mission of providing quality education through leadership will be carried on,” his family said.

Alfredo Bernardo Calderón Santini was born Feb. 11, 1961, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He joined the Army after high school, served 16 years in Germany and elsewhere, and moved to Philadelphia in 1998.

He worked as director of operations for the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corp. before joining Aspira and earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts at St. Joseph’s University in the early 2000s. He was married and divorced, had daughter Melisa, and enjoyed traveling, music, bicycling, and exercising.

» READ MORE: Report cites Philadelphia's lead role in fixing underperforming high schools

He liked to scuba dive in Florida and Puerto Rico, and he told the Daily News in 2007: “It’s quiet and so serene, so relaxing seeing the fish and the colors of the coral.” A friend called him a “remarkable individual” in an online tribute, and a colleague said he was “a visionary leader” in a Facebook post. Another colleague said his death was “an end of an era.”

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Calderón is survived by his mother, Ylsi Santini, a granddaughter, two brothers, a sister, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.

Visitation with the family was held Friday, May 3.