Longtime immigrant rights defender Roberto Martinez died Wednesday morning in his Chula Vista home.

He was 72.

Martinez was well-known in North County for his work advocating for migrant farmworkers. He was raised in Carlsbad before moving to San Diego, his friends and colleagues said.

"He was a beacon of light in a time when no one dared to talk about migrant rights," said Christian Ramirez, national coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker human rights organization.

Martinez served as San Diego director of the American Friends Service Committee for 18 years before retiring in late 2001 due to failing health. He often faced threats against his life during a 30-year career that also was marked by receiving numerous awards.

"Roberto was a pioneer in the defense of migrant rights along the border," said Victor Clark Alfaro, director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana. "He quickly became an authority on the issue of border migration."

In 1992, Martinez was the first American honored for human rights monitoring by the New York-based Human Rights Watch. That same year, a federal court convicted Mark Georges Somes, a white supremacist, for writing threatening letters against Martinez.

Last week, the Mexican consul general in San Diego, Remedios Gomez Arnau, presented him with an Ohtli award, one of Mexico's highest honors.

Shortly before his retirement, Martinez spoke to the North County Times about his career. He said Carlsbad had special meaning to him because it is where his grandfather, a farmworker, settled after moving to California from Texas in 1915.

In 2001, he led a march on City Hall and delivered a letter to Mayor Bud Lewis asking for long-term solutions to a shortage of farmworker housing in Carlsbad.

Martinez said he grew up in a time when Mexican-Americans were routinely rounded up in the streets and deported. A fifth-generation American, he was captured and taken to the border many times in the 1950s and was only let go after officers found out he had difficulty speaking Spanish, he said.

His career as an advocate began in the 1970s, when neighbors asked him for help after several Latino children were beaten by white youths, and school officials refused to take action.

In the 1980s, Martinez used the media to fight vigilantism and shootings at the border.

At the time, police set up undercover programs to stop violence along the border, but "they were shooting more migrants than they saved," Martinez said.

In the mid-1990s, he joined other organizations to fight Operation Gatekeeper, the federal program that forced illegal immigrant traffic to the inhospitable and dangerous terrains in the mountains and deserts. Advocates say Operation Gatekeeper resulted in the deaths of hundreds of immigrants each year.

In North County, he helped start the Ecumenical Migrant Outreach Project, after five Latino men were beaten by several high school students in Rancho Penasquitos in July 2000.

A soft-spoken man, Martinez earned the respect of those who opposed his ideas.

"Roberto was a gentleman, more of a gentleman than I was," said Ben Seeley, who heads the San Diego-based Border Solution Task Force, which seeks stricter immigration policies.

Seeley, 72, often stood on opposite sides of immigration protests from Martinez. Seeley, whose group is much less active now than it was in the 1990s, said he was reminiscing about Martinez recently.

"He really believed in what he was doing, which put us at opposite ends, but he was always a gentleman," he said. "We'll miss him."

Soon after his retirement, Martinez moved to Las Vegas to live with family, but returned because he wanted to end his life in San Diego County, Ramirez said.

The work of a human rights activist is not lucrative, said Ramirez, who succeeded Martinez as director of the AFSC in San Diego. Martinez struggled to raise his children on a modest salary, Ramirez said.

Five years before his retirement, Martinez was diagnosed with diabetes. His treatment further strained his finances. Several groups are accepting donations to help the family with funeral expenses.

A humble man, Martinez said he was confident his work was a just cause.

"The only thing I have on my side is truth," he said in the 2001 interview.

Martinez is survived by his wife, Yolanda, and their children.

Donations may be sent to the Parent Institute for Quality Education, "Roberto Martinez Donation," 4010 Morena Blvd. No. 200, San Diego CA 92117; or to the American Friends Service Committee, care of Roberto Martinez, PO Box 126147, San Diego CA 92112.

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511.