Luis Báez
Washington, D.C.

Activist, Web Designer, Teacher

The Muscular Dystrophy Association remembers our dear friend, Luis Báez, with heartfelt gratitude. He helped so many of those we serve. Báez was affected by polymyositis and mitochondrial myopathy, two neuromuscular diseases covered by MDA and which claimed his life on July 8, 2002 at the age of 37.

Báez was a computer programmer/analyst for the Association of American Medical Colleges. He also worked as an adjunct professor of Spanish at George Washington University. Two of his translated works were published by the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.

Báez held three bachelor's degrees from the University of Connecticut and George Washington University - in medical laboratory sciences, Italian language and literature, and Spanish-American literature. In 1987 he received the Sigma Phi Epsilon Outstanding Senior Award, the highest award in the fraternity's Connecticut Alpha Chapter, for his academic and personal achievements as an undergraduate.

Báez received MDA's 1998 and 2001 Personal Achievement Awards for the District of Columbia, honored for his academic and professional achievements, as well as his commitment to helping others with neuromuscular diseases. He also served on the MDA National Task Force on Public Awareness and its Baltimore-Washington Executive Committee. His efforts began as a youth when he served as a volunteer counselor at an MDA summer camp near his native San Juan, Puerto Rico.

He was a spokesperson and advocate for others with disabilities, and hosted the "Hispanic International" bilingual chat session (Luis Cafe) on the MDA Web site.

His hobbies included creating art, and two of his mixed media paintings were accepted as permanent additions to MDA's Art Collection. One of his digital creations was included in the 1999 Very Special Arts Calendar.