El Paso's first Mexican-American mayor, Raymond L. Telles, has passed away, according to his family.

Telles died at the age of 97. A family member told KFOX14 he died in California.

In 1957, he was elected mayor and re-elected in 1959.

According to our news partner the El Paso Times, Telles was born and raised in El Paso, graduated from Cathedral High School and International Business College, attended the University of Texas at El Paso, was called into service by the Army, became a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, and retired in 1975 as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

While he was in the Air Force, he was chief of the lend-lease program for Mexico and countries of Central and South America. He later served in Mexico as U.S. Air Force liaison officer and adviser to the commanding general of the Mexican Air Force.

Telles is considered the first Hispanic elected mayor of a major city in the United States.