Frederick B. Reyes (April 4, 1946 – August 20, 2019) was a Mexican-American actor and politician. Under the name Lico Reyes, he appeared in movies, commercials and a variety of political campaigns, most notably as the Democratic nominee for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Texas's 26th congressional district Texas's 26th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes rural Cooke County to the north and some of Wise County to the West and includes parts of Denton County, including Flower Mound, Lewisville and parts o ...

in 2004. Lico Reyes was a US Army veteran with an Honorable Discharge.

Early life

Reyers was born in

Canatlán Municipality Canatlán is one of the 39 municipalities of Durango, in northwestern Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Ciudad Canatlán. The municipality covers an area of 468643.1 km2. In 2015, the municipality had a total population of 32,852. In 2010 ...

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. After arriving in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

he began to study for the Jesuit

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priesthood, but switched from seminary training to study agricultural engineering. He graduated from the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

, with a degree in Mathematics and double minors in civil engineering and computer programming. Reyes then continued his education by enrolling in Senior

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

(ROTC). However, by the time he graduated the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

had finished, and he was not required as a second lieutenant. He joined the

Texas State Guard The Texas State Guard (TXSG) is part of the state military force of Texas, and one of three branches of the Texas Military Forces. Along with the other two branches, the TXSG falls under the command of the Governor of Texas and is administered by ...

, served several years and received an honorable discharge as company commander, captain (O-3) from the 105th Military Police Battalion, First Defense Group, Company C. He then enrolled in a four-year performing arts course to train as an actor. He became a citizen of the

on 14 December 1965.

Later career

Reyes worked in a number of different jobs, including nine years working for the

Texas Department of Transportation The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...

(in a variety of roles), as an interpreter for the Dallas County Courthouse, a computer technician for the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

, and a civil engineer at the

Texas Highway Department The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway sys ...

. He then served as a precinct chair in

Tarrant County Tarrant County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, it had a population of 2,110,640. It is Texas' third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County, one of 2 ...

Entertainment career

Reyes, as his character "Father Vito", a comedic parody of a priest, hosted a variety of different community access cable television programs and live events. He also had speaking roles in the 1988 made-for-TV film '' Pancho Barnes'', 1990

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

comedy '' Problem Child'', and one episode of ''

Walker, Texas Ranger ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both this series and that film starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texa ...

''. He also appeared in many industrial films, television commercials and stage productions.

Congressional campaign

In 2004, Reyes was chosen as the Democratic Party's nominee for Texas' 26th Congressional District. He received 89,809 votes, or 33%, behind Republican Michael C. Burgess with 66%. Burgess outspent Lico Reyes by ten times ($689,422) in his re-election campaign. Lico received 1,100 more votes than the next highest in North Texas. The second place was for Honorable US Congressman Martin Frost. During his campaign he advanced the idea of working with Mexico to develop Mexico's oil and gas resources with US technology and financial support, arguing that this would help bring down the cost of fuel, expand the economy in both countries and serve to decrease illegal immigration to the US. Mexico is believed to have the fifth largest untapped reserves of natural resources and is also the fifth largest oil and gas producer in the world.NASCO/Mineta NORTH AMERICA’S SUPERHIGHWAY COALITION TRANSPORTATION FORUM / FORT WORTH, TX

References

External links

*
For more on Lico Reyes' political and community activity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Lico 1946 births 2019 deaths University of Texas at Arlington alumni Texas Democrats Texas State Guard personnel American politicians of Mexican descent People from Durango People with acquired American citizenship Male actors from Texas American male actors of Mexican descent