State Sen. Mario Gallegos, 62, a Democratic lawmaker whose 22-year career in the Texas Legislature was marked by courage, controversy and dogged commitment to issues of importance to the Hispanic community, died Tuesday afternoon at Methodist Hospital in Houston from complications of liver disease. Gallegos, the first Hispanic elected to the state Senate from Harris County, took a special interest in public education, redistricting and other issues he believed would have an effect on the lives of the predominantly working-class residents in Senate District 6. In 2007, only weeks after undergoing a liver transplant, a sick and weakened Gallegos ignored a doctor's call to return to Houston and installed a hospital bed in the office of the Senate sergeant-at-arms so he could cast his vote against a bill requiring voters to show photo identification. In 2011, Gallegos opposed a measure sponsored by state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, requiring women seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram. Suffering from cirrhosis of the liver a few months later, he received last rites and made plans for his body to be displayed near the Capitol Rotunda before being transported to his grave in a fire truck. With about a month to live, he received a phone call on Jan. 18, 2007, informing him that the unexpected death of a teenage boy meant he would get a liver transplant.
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