Prominent Pilipino leader, former UCLA professor dies
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 31, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Photo Courtesy of UCLA Asian American Studies Center
Royal Morales, former professor of Asian American
Studies died Jan. 23 of a heart attack. Morales, known to many as
"Uncle Roy," was 68.
By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Staff
His name was Royal Morales ““ but his students knew him as
“Uncle Roy.”
The retired professor and prominent figure in the Pilipino
community passed away Tuesday of a heart attack in his Gardena
home.
“When he came here, he was an OG L.A. homeboy,” said
Meg Malpaya Thornton, coordinator for student and community
projects at the UCLA Asian American Center. “He took kids out
of the ivory and into the streets.”
Morales was active in the Pilipino American community and
founded the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, an organization
to address youth issues and concerns.
Former students of the UCLA professor from 1983 to 1996,
remembered his unique teaching style.
“One time he was playing a Pilipino (flute-like)
instrument, and the entire class of 150 students became
quiet,” said Annalisa Enrile, a former student of Uncle Roy
and graduate student at the School of Public Policy and Social
Research
Enrile said his class was the only one she experienced where
people actually came to listen, even though half of the information
discussed was not on the exams.
Morales encouraged his students to do community service, and the
field trips he took them on were so popular they needed buses to
accommodate everyone, she said.
Other former students who knew him before taking his class began
to see him in a different perspective.
“I took his class and it was kind of strange because I saw
a different side of him,” said his daughter, Faith, a 1991
UCLA alumna. “He talked about sides of history he
didn’t talk about at home.”
Faith recalls him talking about the Japanese occupation of the
Philippines during World War II.
His family was put under house arrest, Faith said. He mentioned
it at home but his daughter heard the true story for the first time
when she took his class.
“He will be missed by more than just his immediate
family,” Faith said.
Uncle Roy was a role model for Derek Mateo, a 1996 alumnus and
current lecturer in Asian American studies. As a teacher, Mateo is
following Uncle Roy’s lead and doesn’t want his
students to refer to him as “professor.”
“I think its much more of a compliment to be called uncle
than professor,” Mateo said. “Uncle Roy knew that he
didn’t have to be so serious, he knew it was OK to laugh and
to smile.”
In addition to UCLA, Morales taught at other campuses, including
Cal State Los Angeles, Northridge and Cerritos Community
College.
He also served as program director for the Pacific Asian Alcohol
Program and was director of the Asian American Community Mental
Health Training Center of Los Angeles.
A scholarship fund was also set up in his name, in 1996, after
he retired from the university.
He was still active with SIPA during his last days. In fact, he
stopped by the organization’s office one week before he
died.
“On the Tuesday before he passed away, Uncle Roy really
wanted to know if we would carry out his vision of having a
Pilipino American Studies department at UCLA,” Enrile
said.
“It was really weird because it was as if he was laying
down the groundwork about what he wanted us to do,” she
added.
Thornton said Morales went beyond the Pilipino community as he
was one of the first social workers to help after the Watts Riots
in the ’60s.
“He planted seeds, he nurtured them, and as they bore
fruit we are beginning to see the results,” Thornton
said.
Morales was born in 1932 in Los Angeles. During the Depression,
his family took him back to the Philippines. He returned to Hawaii
when he was 18, and eventually received a master’s degree in
social work from USC.
Morales is survived by his wife, Annabelle, three daughters,
Faith, Kathy and Vicky, and one grandchild, Raneka.
Pilipino student groups, alumni and faculty, will organize a
candlelight vigil for Morales tonight from 6-9 p.m. at Westwood
Plaza. For information on the Royal Morales Fund, contact Meg
Malpaya Thornton at (310)825-1006.
