Mariano Villaronga-Toro

Mariano Villaronga Toro (9 November 1906 – 7 March 1987) was a Puerto Rican educator and Commissioner of Public Instruction in Puerto Rico from 1946 to 1957. Under his leadership as Commissioner of Public Instruction, three major institutions that still stand today were put in place: the Department of Education Printing Press, the public radio and television educational service, and the Free School of Music system. Most importantly, during his tenure Spanish was adopted as the official language of instruction in all levels of the Puerto Rico public education system, displacing instruction in English which had been pushed by the previous governments of Puerto Rico under US-appointed colonial governors.

Early years Mariano Villaronga Toro was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico on 9 November 1906. After these early experiences as an educator and public servant, Villaronga earned a master's degree in Education from Harvard University.

In 1946, the political leadership of the Popular Democratic Party recommended Villaronga for commissioner of Public Instruction, a post that at that time was appointed by the President of the United States. In the U.S. Senate hearings, however, Villaronga remained firm in his position in favor of using Spanish as the language of instruction in Puerto Rico, which cost him the Senate confirmation. The educational policy on the island, since the arrival of the United States, had established English as the language of public education to contribute to a process of Americanization of the Puerto Rican people.

Death Mariano Villaronga died in San Juan in March 1987. He is buried at Puerto Rico Memorial Cemetery in Carolina, Puerto Rico.