Alberto Natividad; 3-Term Pico Rivera Mayor

Alberto Natividad, 75, longtime community activist in Pico Rivera who served on the City Council for 12 years and was a three-term mayor. Born in El Paso, Natividad came to Los Angeles after serving in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II. He was educated at East Los Angeles College and USC. In 1952, he began a 30-year career in the Sheriff’s Department, one of the few Latinos then on the force. Natividad initially worked undercover in narcotics enforcement and moved steadily up in the ranks. He was promoted to captain in 1967 and placed in change of the Men’s Central Jail. He subsequently served as commanding officer of the Altadena and Montrose sheriff’s stations. He was the first commanding officer of the Pico Rivera station when it opened in 1973. Elected to Pico Rivera’s City Council in 1982, with strong support from the city’s business community, Natividad served three four-year terms, retiring in 1994. In recent years, he had been a proponent of card club gambling as way to combat the city’s budgetary problems. On Wednesday in Pico Rivera of liver failure.