Pedro E. DeLeon, 91, of Evanston, one of the pioneers of the Filipino-American community in Chicago and a World War II veteran, died of a heart attack Thursday, Oct. 26, at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago. From a family of farmers in the Pangasinan region of the Philippines, Mr. DeLeon immigrated to America in 1928. In the more than 70 years in this country, he worked all sorts of jobs, from picking tomatoes at a farm outside Seattle, to laying the tracks for the Great Northern Railroad and working in the U.S. Army’s counter-intelligence corps in the Philippines. It was by way of the railroad company that he arrived in Chicago in 1929, eventually settling in the DePaul University area, which was favored by many Filipino immigrants at the time. Once here, he worked toward a high school diploma at Waller High School before being drafted into the army. After his return, he studied for two years at DePaul while working in the U.S. Postal Service, said his son, Matthew. As one of the early members of the community, Mr. DeLeon was one of the founding members of the Catholic Filipino American Guild of Chicago and one of the first commanders of the American Legion Filipino Post 509–two organizations that would eventually become part of the umbrella group, Filipino American Council of Chicago. Later, as a trustee of that council, he helped purchase a building at 1332 W. Irving Park Rd., which is now home to the Jose P. Rizal Center, the only Filipino-American community center in the Chicago area. Through his work in the community, Mr. DeLeon met his wife, Rosal, a recent immigrant who worked as a nurse. At age 60, he married her and started a family.
Survivors also include another son, Henry; and a granddaughter. Mass will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Nicholas Catholic Church, 806 Ridge Ave., Evanston.
