El Paso Times Editorial Board

Tom Diamond, an El Paso attorney who died on Saturday at age 94, was a witness to and creator of much of El Paso’s history in the second half of the 20th century.

Diamond came to El Paso in 1959 as a highway engineer with a law degree. He was quickly recruited by then-County Judge Woodrow Bean to be a key aide. While working with Bean, a larger-than-life character, Diamond worked on numerous project, including acquiring right-of-way for what became Interstate 10, completing the Sun Bowl stadium and building Trans Mountain Road.

More: Tom Diamond, lawyer who helped Tiguas, dies at 94

Bean also gave Diamond an up-close view of Democratic politics and some of the political giants of the time. In a 2016 book he authored, Diamond recalled that Bean almost convinced Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy to visit a Juárez brothel during the 1960 campaign.

Kennedy backed out at the last minute, Diamond recalled, leading Bean to protest: "Everyone will be there, and besides, we have a rule in El Paso: After midnight in Juárez you are invisible."

Diamond stayed active in Democratic politics much of his life, serving several terms as county Democratic chairman.

But it was his work on behalf of El Paso’s Tigua Indians that is his greatest legacy.

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Diamond began working with the Tiguas in 1965. The state and federal governments did not recognize the tribe’s Native American status, depriving tribal members of benefits and trapping them in a cycle of poverty.

"We had a very unique problem: The federal government would not recognize a new Indian tribe then," Diamond said in a 2009 interview with the El Paso Times. "It's really kind of tragic. They know they're Indians, but the white people have to come along and recognize them as such before they get benefits as Indians."

With Diamond as a driving force, the state of Texas recognized the tribe’s Native American status in 1967 and Congress granted federal recognition a year later, granting responsibility for the tribe to the state of Texas.

In 1987, the federal government assumed responsibility for the Tiguas with the passage of the Restoration Act. Diamond worked closely with then-Rep. Ron Coleman of El Paso to pass the law that ended much of the disparate treatment for the Tiguas compared to other tribes.

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That law barred most gambling on tribal land, a point of conflict to this day. Diamond spent years helping the Tiguas try to get the courts to recognize the tribe’s right to offer gaming, a right virtually all other tribes have.

"If I had to pick something in my life that was really worthwhile, I'd say it was working with the Tigua Indians, giving them a chance to survive and getting them federal recognition," Diamond said in a 2016 interview with the Times. "It's probably the lasting legacy."

Survivors include his wife, Carolyn; his son, Jack; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at Hillcrest Funeral Home-West, 5054 Doniphan. Prayer service will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Ysleta Mission, 131 S. Zaragoza. Graveside service will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Memory Gardens of the Valley Cemetery.

El Paso is a much different place because Tom Diamond decided to settle here in 1959. His work is now done, but his legacy will live on.