Actor, voice artist, musician and California Institute of the Arts alum Emilio Delgado (Theater 1971), best known for his work on the beloved children’s television series “Sesame Street,” died on March 10 in Manhattan, in New York City. He was 81.

For more than four decades, Delgado played “Sesame Street’s” Luis Rodriguez, the owner of The Fix-It Shop and the show’s first human character. He introduced the residents of Sesame Street to Latino culture, often strumming a guitar as he sang in both English and Spanish. The role also involved a notable romantic storyline with Fix-It Shop coworker Maria, played by Sonia Manzano, leading to their eventual marriage and birth of their daughter Gabriela.

Delgado was also integral to bringing bilingual content to the series, serving as the coordinator of the Sesame Street Workshop’s Bilingual Talk Force.

In a release from Sesame Street Workshop, the nonprofit behind the show, it was noted that Delgado held the longest running role for a Mexican American actor in a television series. These and other contributions to “Sesame Street” and beyond have cemented Delgado’s legacy as a pioneering Chicano actor.

Delgado was born in California border town of Calexico and spent his teenage years in Glendale. After six years in the California National Guard, Delgado enrolled at CalArts. He joined the Institute’s inaugural theater class in 1970.

Prior to joining the “Sesame Street” cast in 1971, Delgado played in various television shows and theatrical stage productions, and even served as the artistic director of the Barrio Theatre of East LA.

During is off=season from “Sesame Street” Delgado joined the casts of several popular primetime television series, including “House of Cards,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Quincy,” “The Michael J. Fox Show” and on various iterations of “Law & Order.” In 2018, Delgado returned to the theater stage to star in the titular role of playwright Octavio Solis’ “Don Quixote, Quixote Nuevo.”

At the 2019 Hispanic Heritage Celebration, then New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed Oct. 15 the city’s official “Emilio Delgado Day.”