Rosario Anaya — strong supporter of education for immigrants

Services will be held on Sept. 19 for Rosario Anaya, the longtime leader of the Mission Language Vocational School in San Francisco, a former president of the city’s Board of Education, and for decades a vigorous advocate for the education of immigrants and their families.

During her 42-year tenure, Ms. Anaya transformed the program that offered mainly English instruction for Latinos into a broader vocational training school for all immigrants, with classes in medical assisting, clerical skills and computer, culinary, business and pharmacy skills.

“She was a trailblazer,” said her friend Sandy Close, executive director of the ethnic news coalition New American Media, where Ms. Anaya was an active board member for nearly 20 years.

In 1989, when school district administrators revealed that black children accounted for nearly 75 percent of all suspensions yet were only 20 percent of enrollment, Ms. Anaya urged the administration to develop a long-range plan for black students and back it up with adequate funding.

Educated at the University of San Francisco, she received a bachelor’s degree in public administration and a master’s in counseling and psychology.

In 2010, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed her to the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission (now the Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure), which oversaw affordable housing.