Maestro (teacher) López touched many lives as a bilingual teacher at South Division High School in the early 1970's, and encouraged his students to continue higher education, which many followed through and later became successful contributing professionals in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
August 28, 2025
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Thursday, Gloria González, a former graduate student from South Division High School, and a former MPS Division of Bilingual Multicultural Education at Central Services staff member announced that her bilingual teacher, Luis López had recently passed away in Tampa, Florida. González released the following statement, "Our beloved high school teacher Luis López, the first bilingual teacher at South Division High School has recently passed away, plans for his celebration of life in Milwaukee are being planned. López touched many of his students and families lives and encouraged them to continue in higher education. He will be greatly missed."
López was originally from México, he had a passion to teach his students in both Spanish and English and made sure that the students succeeded in class, which eventually led to a higher percentage of graduation for Latino and non-Latino students at South Division High School (SDHS). Many of the students that López taught enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, including Milwaukee Area Technical College and other universities, and later graduated and became contributing members in the Southside community and Milwaukee.
López was the first bilingual teacher at SDHS in the early 1970's. The SDHS 1971 year book recognized López as a teacher for Hispanic American Culture, Language and History, and United States History Bilingual.
López is well known for his charismatic and unwavering support for his students at SDHS, and in 1972, he was very instrumental in sponsoring the first Hispanic student South Division High School Prom dance at the Marc Plaza Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.
In 1973, López also worked as a Guidance Counselor in the Guidance Department at SDHS in MPS.
López later became an administrator at MPS. After retiring from MPS, López moved to Tampa.
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