DES MOINES, Iowa-Warren Morrow, CEO and founder of Coopera, a unit of the Iowa CU League, died last week. Mr. Morrow was 34. A heart valve problem was cited as the cause of death.
Born in Mexico to an Ameican father and Mexican mother, Morrow grew up in Arizona and frequently spoke of how assimilating into the U.S. culture helped shape his life and of the struggles his mother had in doing the same.
While in college Morrow and several friends formed a non-profit called the Latino Leadership Project whose mission was to help underprivileged, young Hispanics have the opportunity to receive a college education.
In 2004 Morrow and Max Cardenas founded Diverse Innovative Solutions to help businesses partner with the Latino community. Seeing a philosophical fit with credit unions, Morrow began working with the Iowa league and in 2006 his company evolved to become Coopera through a partnership with the ICUL.
"Warren had a powerful vision that outreach to the underserved Hispanic community should not be philanthropy," said ICUL COO Murray Williams in a statement. "Instead, a business could do well by doing good - and everyone would benefit."
In 2009, CUNA formed a partnership with Coopera to help credit unions reach the Hispanic community nationally. Most recently, Coopera unveiled the Coopera Card, a reloadable Visa prepaid card built specifically for Hispanic cardholders.
"It is our mission to continue with Warren's passion and vision of Coopera as as we move forward," said Miriam De Dios, VP with Coopera.
Morrow is survived by his wife, Christina Fernandez-Morrow, and 7-year-old daughter Ariana. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that contributions be made in his honor to the "Warren Morrow Memorial Fund" at Des Moines Metro Credit Union, 100 University Ave., Des Moines, IA 50314.
