Community mourns former Victorville mayor pro tem Rita Ramirez-Dean

Former Victorville mayor pro tem, perennial candidate, and retired college professor Rita Ramirez-Dean has died.

The 80-year-old Ramirez-Dean died on Sunday, according to Brown Colonial Mortuary in Santa Ana. City spokeswoman Sue Jones also confirmed Ramirez-Dean's death.

Ramirez-Dean served on the council for three years after being elected in 2018.

“We were very saddened to learn of Rita’s passing,” Jones stated. “She was an inspiring leader with a passion for service and dedication to bettering the lives of others first as a college educator, then as an elected official.  We extend our condolences to Rita’s family and friends at this difficult time.”

Ramirez-Dean’s cause of death was not revealed. Over the last three years, she did admit to having her lower leg amputated and being hospitalized after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Her funeral service will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. June 20 at Brown Colonial Mortuary, 204 West 17th Street, Santa Ana.

‘People Matter’

In 2018, the long-time resident of Twentynine Palms said she had moved to Victorville three years earlier to prepare for two campaigns for Congress, the Daily Press reported.

"By coming up here and making friendships, and coming to church and getting to know everyone and liking the city," she said, "I decided I wanted to have a new life.”

That fresh start materialized into a city council campaign, which Ramirez-Dean would later claim victory.

With a campaign slogan, "People Matter," Ramirez-Dean identified a four-point platform to her candidacy: renovating Old Town, saving the Green Tree Golf Course, and tackling a growing homelessness problem facing the city.

She also advocated for a state university within city limits to bolster an educated workforce that would attract companies with jobs.

"We need to broaden the base of the types of businesses we have to include insurance, banking, and other sectors that will offer better wages,” Ramirez-Dean said.

She supported affordable housing for first-time buyers, all veterans, and seniors. She also advocated for a high-level treatment hospital in the High Desert.

Her campaigns

During the Statewide Direct Primary Election in 2022, Ramirez-Dean fell short during her run for the newly drawn 34th Assembly District.

Ultimately, incumbents District 33 Assemblyman Thurston ”Smitty” Smith and 36th District Assemblyman Tom Lackey took the primary, with Lackey winning the seat in November 2022.

During her assembly campaign, she told the San Bernardino Sun she was optimistic about her chances.

“I’ve been a resident of the Low Desert, Twentynine Palms, since 1972,” she told the Sun. “I can hold my own, to be honest, because they don’t know this area whatsoever.”

Ramirez-Dean previously ran for a San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors seat in 2020. She also ran for Congress in 2012, 2016 and 2018.

In 2021, Ramirez-Dean was ousted by the city council after they reportedly found that she had not lived in the city for more than half a year.

During that time, Victorville Attorney Andre de Bortnowsky presented a report in which he said Ramirez had received city mail and agendas at her home in Twentynine Palms for at least nine months.

Ramirez told the San Bernardino County Sentinel she was hospitalized from January to April 2020. She said that her son brought her to the “family home in 29 Palms” in April after a breakout of coronavirus cases at the rehabilitative hospital where she was recovering.

Ramirez stated that she didn’t return to Victorville for fear of possibly infecting a friend she was sharing a home with the city, according to the Daily Press.

In a letter to the City Council in 2021, Ramirez wrote that she had to “temporarily locate” to the Twentynine Palms home last year to recover after having her lower left leg amputated, the Daily Press previously reported.

Education and service

Ramirez-Dean attended Chapman University, Louisiana State University, California State University, San Bernardino, and Fullerton.

She earned a bachelor of arts in mathematics and a master of arts in curriculum, instruction, and political science.

She also obtained an Education Specialist Certificate in curriculum and Doctorate in philosophy, curriculum, instruction, and reading.

Ramirez-Dean retired from College of the Desert in Palm Desert and taught at Copper Mountain College. She created the Foreign Language Department and the Reading Department for Copper Mountain.

She was elected to the Board of Trustees of Copper Mountain College and vice-president of the Copper Mountain College Board of Trustees.

She served as Governor-At-Large for the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges and director of Area F for the San Bernardino School of Boards Association.

Additionally, CTA/CCA College of the Desert Executive Board vice chair, Region 8 of SBC, State Chicano Latino Caucus, Secretary of State Hispanic Trustees of California Community Colleges

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Former Victorville Mayor Pro Tem Rita Ramirez-Dean dead at 80