Submitted by the family
Ramiro Solis, a proud father and trailblazing attorney, died of a heart attack on Sept. 8 among 40,000 friends doing one of the things he loved most – cheering on the Padres at Petco Park.
He is survived by four children, three grandchildren, his mother, and hundreds of friends worldwide. Condolences have come from the United States, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Venezuela, Canada, Japan, Nigeria and Thailand.
If you’ve lived in Coronado over the last 30 years, there’s a good chance you knew my father.
You may remember him from the Coronado Shores tennis courts in the mid 1990s. He became a regular there after we moved to Coronado from Mexico City – often playing for hours in mixed-doubles matches with my mom or challenging random retirees who were often twice his age.
Or you might have seen him driving along Orange Avenue in his Charger-mobile, the Ford Explorer painted white on one side, navy blue on the other and features a lightning bolt down the middle. You may have even shared a Sierra Nevada and a carne asada taco in one of his famous Qualcomm Stadium tailgates.
And you’d definitely remember him from one of his many Coronado watering holes: The Sundeck at the Hotel Del; The Brigantine; the Coronado Yacht Club; and The Tavern. He would’ve been the one befriending bartenders, buying strangers drinks, bragging about his kids and unapologetically drinking a little more than he should have.
What can I say, Ramiro never wanted the party to end.
But sadly, it has. He’s watched his last Padres game, grilled his last steak, and drank his last beer.
Now that he’s gone, my family and I ask you to remember him as he will: an amazing man with unmatched generosity and an insatiable zest for life. A kid who was born in Mexico City and realized an incredible American Dream.
Ramiro Solis was the first-born child of Jacinto Solis Corzo and Clara Maria Suarez Aranda. He was born in 1956 and grew up in Mexico amid the cultural revolution of the 1960s.
As a boy, Ramiro was known as a brilliant troublemaker. He had a photographic memory and an aversion toward authority. Ramiro would ace every test while simultaneously concocting new ways of annoying his teachers. Like the time he hippy-fied the school uniform by sewing flowers onto his pants and wearing a blazer without a shirt underneath.
He also had an incredibly kind heart. His sister, my aunt, remembers Ramiro inviting a group of random children from the low-income neighborhood near their school home. He convinced his mother to feed each one.
And he remained that way throughout his life. As a young adult, he managed to graduate from one of Mexico City’s most prestigious law schools while regularly partying until 7 a.m. – often spending every last peso he had buying food and drinks for friends who otherwise couldn’t afford to party.
At Harvard Law School, he sometimes attended class wearing a suit from the night before, and eloquently answering every question his law professors threw at him.
As a professional, my father became one of the top corporate attorneys in Mexico City. Ramiro helped bring the first McDonalds franchise to Mexico and placed one of the first Mexican companies in the New York Stock Exchange. There is a long list of Mexico City lawyers who owe their first job to my father – who would put in a good word for people who didn’t have the right family connections. He also briefly owned a nightclub and a racing horse.
Toward the end of his career, Ramiro operated multiple resort hotels in Mexico. He invited countless friends and strangers to free nights at some of Mexico’s most beautiful beaches.
As a father, Ramiro instilled in his children a deep respect for the power of education. He loved the United States as the land of opportunity – a place where, no matter where you are from or what class you are born into, you can make something of yourself. He constantly reminded my siblings and I that our education would always be our most important inheritance. Still, he liked to have fun. Our childhoods were filled with incredible experiences – winter ski trips, summers in Europe, numerous World Cups, and more Padres and Chargers games than any of us can count.
We’ll all miss him dearly. And, in his honor, do our best to keep the party going.
