SAC launches Edward and Maria Prado from the West Side to the world stage

Edward Prado’s career took him far beyond anything he imagined while growing up on San Antonio’s West Side and attending Edgewood High School.

He certainly never guessed that three U.S. presidents would appoint him to high-profile roles, including two federal judgeships and a term as U.S. ambassador to Argentina from 2018 to 2021.

Both Edward and his wife Maria say that their extraordinary journey began at San Antonio College.

College was unfamiliar territory for both of them.

Edward’s parents didn’t graduate from high school, and few of his Edgewood classmates pursued higher education; many entered the military as the Vietnam War escalated. SAC offered him an ideal transition into college life.

 “I could stay in my neighborhood, keep my part-time job at Handy Andy, and save money,” he said. “Had I attempted to go to a four-year college directly, it would have been much more challenging.”

Maria, the oldest of six children, always loved school, and wanted to continue.

“I knew I wanted to go to college, but I didn’t want to burden my family with the high cost,” she said.

After graduating from Brackenridge High School, Maria took a summer history course at SAC to boost her confidence, then enrolled full-time that fall while working part-time for the phone company.

Both families valued education, even if money was tight. Edward’s parents allowed him to keep what he earned for college rather than contribute to household expenses.

“There wasn’t much money, but they supported us in the ways they could,” he said.

Though they attended SAC at the same time, Edward and Maria didn’t meet until later.

During his last semester, mutual friends asked Edward for a ride to buy a birthday cake for Maria, whom he had not met. They invited him to her celebration in the SAC cafeteria, but he declined. Months later, they met at a bookstore in Austin while buying textbooks for UT.

“They said, ‘This is the young woman you bought a birthday cake for,’” he recalled.

They began dating in the spring of their first year at UT. Both earned bachelor’s degrees, and Edward went on to law school.

“She wouldn’t marry me until I got my degree and a job, so we dated for five years,” he said. The couple has now been married for 51 years.

Edward initially thought he might teach. He considered being an attorney but thought that might be out of reach. He took inspiration from his high school English teacher’s husband, a lawyer who had once delivered newspapers in the neighborhood.

“He used to bike around and throw the paper in my grandparents’ front yard,” Prado said. “I thought, if this paperboy can end up being a lawyer, maybe I can too.”

One day a SAC professor asked to see Maria after class. She was surprised when the instructor asked about her future plans and encouraged her to apply to a university outside San Antonio.

“She said to apply and see what happens,” Maria said. “She gave me the courage to think that I could move on after SAC.”

Edward found support in his SAC classmates, who all came from similar backgrounds. Several were heading to UT Austin, and although the idea of a large university intimidated him, he decided to join them.

Once at UT, both Edward and Maria realized the strength of the foundation they’d received at SAC. They realized the smaller class sizes at SAC had given them an advantage over classes with hundreds of students at UT.

“We had a closer relationship with professors at SAC,” Maria said. “You could go talk to them anytime you wanted to and they were always very helpful.”

Maria majored in education but eventually worked as a buyer for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service at Fort Sam Houston, a position she held for about a decade before staying home to raise their son and take on volunteer work.

Meanwhile, Edward’s legal career gained momentum. He served as a Bexar County assistant district attorney, a federal public defender, a Texas district court judge, and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas.

Pres. Ronald Reagan nominated him for a seat on the U.S. Federal District Court in 1984, a position he held for 19 years until 2003, when Pres. George W. Bush nominated him to a seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate approved him 97-0.

After nearly 35 years as a federal judge, Prado retired from the courts and accepted a final appointment when Pres. Donald Trump asked him to serve as ambassador to Argentina in 2018.

The new role transported the lifelong San Antonians from a relatively quiet life to a five-story palace in Buenos Aires and a schedule filled with state dinners and diplomatic events.

“I’d host 200 people in the ballroom, make a short speech, and then sneak out with Maria to another event,” Prado said.

Fluency in Spanish was a major asset. It helped him build relationships with Argentine officials, although he had to adjust to the local dialect, which blends Spanish and Italian. He also had to brush up on technical terms to talk about topics like satellites, jet engines, tariffs and inflation.

“It’s not like ordering food at Mi Tierra,” he joked. “My Spanish class at SAC with Mr. Ramirez came in handy.”

Maria also had to adapt quickly. Though not in an official role, she participated in diplomatic functions and was often approached by the media.

“Even though I was the ambassador, she was expected to be almost as active,” Edward said.

“It was just an incredible time,” Maria added.

The pace slowed dramatically in early 2020 when COVID-19 hit, hampering their last eight months in Buenos Aires. The staff of 10 that helped run the palace could no longer come to work, so the couple were on their own as Edward conducted business by phone and through Zoom meetings.

After returning to San Antonio, Edward joined the law firm Bracewell, where he still serves as of counsel.

Now, the two are revisiting their San Antonio College roots as members of the SAC Centennial Executive Committee, sharing their experiences and helping to spread the word about the opportunities at SAC. 

“We owe a lot to SAC and give it a lot of credit for the success we’ve had,” he said.

“SAC opens doors,” Maria said. “Whatever you want to do, it’s there to help you. Get in there and see where you can go, what you can become.”

-SAC-