This post was updated Nov. 2 at 9:42 a.m.

Cindy Montañez, a prominent advocate for Chicana and Chicano studies, California legislator and UCLA alumnus, died Oct. 21. She was 49 years old.

While a student at UCLA, Montañez participated in a 14-day hunger strike to demand funding for Chicana and Chicano studies after financial cuts put the program in danger of being shut down. Montañez became the youngest member of the San Fernando City Council and the youngest woman elected to the California State Assembly. She is survived by her parents, five siblings and a number of nieces and nephews.

Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, an associate professor in the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, said Montañez’s career was impressive because of her impact on both national and local politics.

“It’s a brilliant career where you can go change laws as a representative of the people and then come back to the community and implement that and take advantage of the space that was created through policy vision,” he said.

Montañez’s political work has been pivotal in securing legal recognition of the rights of domestic workers and car laborers in California, said Victor Narro, a project director at the UCLA Labor Center. He added that even though then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation Montañez proposed to protect domestic workers, her work was an important first step in securing those rights.

“She was a champion for that issue,” he said. “It was the first attempt ever to advance labor protection for domestic workers.”

But before she became a legislator, part of Montañez’s legacy – the hunger strike – was established before she graduated from UCLA.

When the university’s interdepartmental program for Chicano and Chicana studies faced the threat of closure in the spring of 1993, a number of students, including Montañez, went on a hunger strike in an attempt to convince then-Chancellor Charles E. Young to fund the program. Charlene Villaseñor Black, chair of the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, said Montañez’s participation in the 14-day hunger strike was a key part in the creation of the department.

She added that a picture of Montañez taken during the hunger strike, which eventually became one of the event’s most recognizable images, is still shown to the department’s new graduate students today.

“She’s famous as an important politician in the San Fernando Valley and in California, but I really knew about her because she was one of the hunger strikers whose efforts helped found our department,” she said. “It was through that event and other acts of civil disobedience, in which I think almost 100 students were arrested, that our department came to be.”

Villaseñor Black added that Montañez’s efforts served to further perceptions of the importance of ethnic studies in academia across the United States. Hinojosa-Ojeda said students were instrumental in defending Chicana and Chicano studies at UCLA when university administration threatened to shut down all related classes.

“Many of the students, as well as many people in the community and a small fledgling group of faculty, said, ‘No, this cannot be done,’” he said. “It was the students, with the community support, that basically decided that they were going to have a hunger strike.”

In addition to her legislative work, Montañez also was the CEO of TreePeople, a nonprofit organization that aims to increase urban access to safe, healthy and sustainable environmental areas, according to its website.

A representative from TreePeople said in an emailed statement that Montañez led the organization with courage and compassion, adding that it grew significantly under her stewardship.

Villaseñor Black said Montañez was one of the first people in California to recognize the impact of environmental disasters on communities of color. Narro added that one important part of Montañez’s contribution to TreePeople was championing community involvement in climate change mitigation.

“Cindy always felt … the movement to protect the environment has to be connected with the community members who are impacted,” he said. “That’s what she tried to do with TreePeople. She connected it with community members often impacted by climate change and environmental issues.”

Montañez shared the news that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year, according to a press release from UCLA’s Latino Politics and Policy Institute. Hinojosa-Ojeda said he will always remember the bravery with which Montañez faced the end of her life.

“I really loved her,” he said. “(She was) one of those people that you deeply connect to, and she, I think, felt the same way about me. … We would always have each other there.”