He lived to be past 100 years. His diplomatic skills saved thousands of Jewish lives. And he died on a Fourth of July.

He was a Mexican. Who was he?

If nothing special is on tap for your Fourth of July fiesta this year, why not celebrate the life of one Gilberto Bosquez Saldivar, who lived for 103 years and passed on July 4,1995.

Many of us may have learned in history that during World War II, the Jewish economy had collapsed or was in ruin as part of the Nazi-Germany’s “Aryanization” policy. Human suffering was a worst story as the Nazis encouraged racial riots then moved on to larger mass killings followed by sending millions of Jewish victims to gas chambers.

A good number of people in the free world may know of the heroic and humanitarian deeds of one Oskar Schindler, an ethnic German industrialist who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

Few of us, however, recognize Saldivar’s name, whom some some called “the Mexican Schindler.” Perhaps a misnomer, for Saldivar was responsible for securing safe passage for more than 40,000 Jews. Forty-thousand, it’s not a typo.

In sheer numbers alone, Saldivar’s list is much longer than Schindler’s. Of course both men deserve the global community’s appreciation, but thus far only one of them has been rightfully celebrated.

It is known that Schindler became a dedicated man and allegedly turned his life around after being an opportunist and seemingly motivated mainly by profit.

The asylum seekers saved by Schindler during the Holocaust were employed in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively. In 1982, he was the subject of the novel, Schindler’s Ark, and the subsequent 1993 film, Schindler’s List.

Saldivar, who was born in a remote mountain village, owned no factories. However, as a young man he begin to show an interest in serving society and assisted citizens with their rights and organized the First National Pedagogy Congress, later becoming involved in the Mexican Revolution.

From there he went on to become a journalist prior to his election as a state legislator and later a senator. While serving as a diplomat in France, he had to abandon his Paris office and set-up his operation in Marseilles, where he obtained two chateaux to house European Jews and other refugees, including leaders of the Spanish Republic, who were defeated in the Spanish Civil War by the fascist forces of Francisco Franco who were seeking to escape Hitler’s war machine.

As the German threat begin to affect much of Europe, Saldivar instructed his consulate office staff to approve immigration documents for those wishing to flee. It was then his staff processed the astonishing number of visas and even chartered several ships to transport the refugees to various African nations, most continuing on to Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil.

Suddenly, in 1943, the Gestapo caught-up with Saldivar and arrested him along with his wife, children and his entire staff. They were imprisoned for more than a year. But Saldivar’s deeds had already reached Mexican president, Manuel Avila Camacho, who immediately set the international political wheels in motion to secure Saldivar’s freedom.

Back in the safety of his motherland, Saldivar continued serving his country as an ambassador.

In 2000, several Mexican journalists begin hearing the stories from the sons and daughters of the Jewish survivors and a few biographies began to appear.

Saldivar’s unbelievable and compassionate task not only helped those who escaped the war, but also rendered intellectual and artistic benefits to Mexico.

In Vienna, Austria, there is a street named after Saldivar and in 2008, at a November reception held in Saldivar’s honor in Beverly Hills, the American Defamation League presented his daughter, Laura with a posthumous Courage to Care Award, which was created in 1987 to recognize non-Jews who helped rescue and hide refugees during the Holocaust.

History has taught us that omission of such heroes/heroines or accomplishments with Spanish surnames is not uncommon. But you’d think that in America, where such acts are held in high esteem and, specifically, in multicultural cities like Los Angeles, that has more Jews than Jerusalem and a Latino community of Mexican ancestry larger than anywhere, (except Mexico City, of course), and home of the renown Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, you’d think you’d have little trouble finding information on Señor Saldivar. Guess again.

Let us recognize Gilberto Bosquez Saldivar as much as the anglo community has acknowledged Oskar Schindler. Treating the Mexican diplomat on an even hero basis would be a great start. Perhaps we may even strive for an ultimate compliment for Saldivar and refer to Mr. Schindler with a new and affectionate nickname – the “German Saldivar!”