Labor scholar and Puerto Rican independence activist José Soler has died. For over 20 years, Soler was director of the UMass Dartmouth Labor Education Center, and most recently co-head of the New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools, which fought charter school expansion. Soler emerged in the social justice world as a leader in the Chicano rights organization the Brown Berets. He advocated for human rights and the independence of Puerto Rico since the 1970s. Throughout his life, Soler continued to work in the labor rights movement. He was a union organizer with UAW District 65 and a labor journalist. José Soler was 75 years old.