A Utah civil rights legend who grew up in Pocatello died Friday at age 88.

Robert “Archie” Archuleta was a longtime advocate of the Hispanic community in Utah, holding positions such as president of the Utah Coalition of La Raza and the Salt Lake City minority affairs director.

However, before becoming a renowned civil rights leader in Utah, Robert Archuleta spent his childhood and early adult years in Pocatello, where his mother, Florence, laid the foundation for her son to become the man he is known as today, said his nephew, Dave Archuleta.

According to Dave Archuleta, who lives in Pocatello and serves as an associate tribal judge in Fort Hall, Robert’s mother once caused a stir at a Pocatello movie theater that used to be located near Jack in the Box.

“When you went in there, back in the old days, they’d always put (colored people) on the left-hand side,” Dave Archuleta said. “One day Robert was with my grandma, and when they went in, she said, ‘We’ll sit on the right side today.’ She taught her son that you don’t just take things the way they are. You try to change it. And that’s what he did all of his life.”

Robert Archuleta attended Pocatello High School and graduated from Idaho State University, then called Idaho State College. From there, he pursued post-graduate work at the University of Utah and became a teacher in Salt Lake City. He later worked as the principal of an alternative school.

After retiring from education, he was hired as the minority affairs director, where he worked to expand and increase Hispanic presence and fulfill the needs of the Hispanic community.

In the 1970s, Robert Archuleta led an effort to change a height requirement that was a barrier to many Latinos hoping to join the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Robert Archuleta also served as president of the Utah Coalition of La Raza, chair of the Salt Lake County Democratic Caucus, and a member of many other ethnic, political, educational, civil rights, poverty and labor groups.

He was awarded the Quixote Lifetime Achievement Award from the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Cualli Ohtli Award from the Mexican Consulate and the Cesar Chavez Education Award from UCLR. And just last year, the Salt Lake City branch of the NAACP honored Robert with the Albert Fritz Civil Rights Award.

Dave Archuleta said seeing the coverage of his uncle’s death has been surreal.

“I was actually surprised the Utah Legislature recognized him,” he said. “We didn’t really realize how important of a person he was. To us, he was just Uncle Robert. But you go to Salt Lake, and he was a really important person. He made headway, and he changed that city.”