Gustavo “Gus” Gutierrez, who has been called the “elder” and the “CEO” of farm labor and community organizing in Arizona, died Sept. 1 after descending by horseback into the Grand Canyon of Arizona as part of a Native American religious ceremony.

Gutierrez, 80, is best known for organizing Arizona farm-workers from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was director of Arizona’s Migrant Opportunity Program from 1965 to 1968. Later he founded the Arizona Farm Workers Association which focused on farm labor conditions including a living wage. He also worked as an organizer and boycott coordinator for the United Farm Workers union.

His disagreements regarding the treatment of undocumented workers eventually led to his split with the United Farm Workers Union,” said Don Devereux, a fellow farm labor organizer and journalist. “This was a painful and awkward situation for Gus.”

Gus, as his friends called him, was a founder of Chicanos Por La Causa. He also worked as a business agent for AFl-CIO affiliated Laborers Union Local 383 in Phoenix, AZ.

In more recent years Gutierrez served on the council of Tonatierra in Phoenix, AZ, an organization dedicated to preserving indigenous traditions. Gutierrez traced his ancestors to the Opata tribe of the northern Sonora state of Mexico.

“Gus began raising awareness among Chicanos of their indigenous roots in 1990, when he attended an international conference on indigenous rights in Quito, Ecuador,” said Carlos Pelayo, a San Diego-based labor and indigenous activist.

Soon afterwards, said, Pelayo, Gutierrez began coordinating Peace and Dignity Journeys to bridge Chicano and Native American groups on two American continents. Beginning in 1992, Peace and Dignity runners ran from both Canada as well as Tierra del Fuego, converging in Central America, every four years.

“The descent into the Grand Canyon was a tributary of the Peace and Dignity run,” said Pelayo. “Gus could have done the trip by helicopter, but he chose horseback, and it was too much for him. He gave his life to the indigenous people.”

Gutierrez is survived by his wife of 55 years, Raquel C. Gutierrez, daughters Alejandria Gutierrez, Ramona Gutierrez, Anobel Gutierrez, and Raquel D. Gutierrez; and sisters Graciela de la Garza, Sahli, and Adelina Villanueva.

“My dad organized communities, brought people together, talked about peace and our responsibilities to the earth and to the peoples of the earth, and how to take care of them,” said daughter Anobel Gutierrez.