Ricardo Palacios succumbs to second heart attack

MCM Books author Ricardo D. Palacios, 75, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 15, at his home. On Sept. 5, he suffered an arrhythmia caused by plaque in an artery, but was making a remarkable recovery and had returned home to his ranch in Encinal. Unfortunately, he experienced a second heart attack from which he was unable to recover.

“We will miss Ricardo greatly, MCM Books publisher Alfredo E. Cardenas said. “We are under contract to deliver his second novel with us and will work with his family to publish it posthumously.”

Palacios was anxious to get back to work on final edits to the novel, tentatively entitled Judgement Reversed. The story is about a land dispute, a familiar subject to many in south Texas.

“I’m home. Glad to be here for sure,” Palacios texted Cardenas in mid-November after moving back home from spending two months in a series of Austin medical and rehabilitation facilities. He assured the publisher he was ready to work on the final edits.

A month later he succumbed to a second heart attack.

MCM Books published Palacios’ first novel, Chon: The Story of a WWII Japanese Spy Who Became a South Texas Vaquero earlier this year in March. Palacios had previously released two non-fiction books. In 2007, Texas A&M University Press published Tio Cowboy, Juan Salinas, Rodeo Roper and Horseman, a biography of his uncle. He also wrote a memoir, Green Street Kid (Archway Publishing) in 2013.

While Palacios was born into a landed family, he often said they were “land poor.” He had a tremendous love of the land, the fauna, and flora of south Texas. He spent all of his free time at the ranch, and in the early 1980s, he moved his family to a new house on ranch land near Encinal. Eventually, he inherited land and property from his “Tio Juan.”

Palacios was born in Laredo, Texas, to Abraham G. Palacios and Mucia Salinas Palacios, on Nov. 13, 1943. He was a descendant of Don Tomas Sanchez, founder of Laredo. His grandfather Antonio Salinas was born at the museum next to the La Posada Hotel on San Agustin Plaza, and as a young man participated in the 1886 election riot on the Plaza between the Huaraches and the Bota political parties.

Palacios attended Ursuline and St. Joseph’s Academies in Laredo, graduating in 1961. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1966 from Texas A & M Kingsville. He later attended law school at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and became a licensed attorney in Texas in 1971. He was board certified in Oil and Gas Law, by the State Bar of Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He eventually became an arbitrator-mediator, helping settle more than 1,000 cases throughout his career. He served as General Counsel for the Benavides Family Mineral Trust, from its infancy until this year.

Palacios is survived by his children and grandchildren, Ricardo D. Palacios, Jr. of Encinal; George Abraham, Heather and Benicio Palacios of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Antonio Ignacio, Joelle and Sebastian Palacios of Seattle, Washington; daughter Virginia Elizabeth Palacios of Austin Texas; the mother of his children, Catherine Marie Link; his dedicated partner, Sarah Lynn Appling; and a large number of cousins, nephews, and nieces.

Under Palacios’ request, the family will hold a memorial service at a later date.