El Paso businessman and philanthropist Fred Loya Sr., who founded a national auto insurance company and was known for his philanthropy and extraordinary Christmas light displays that wowed him, has died, according to news reports.
Loya is one of El Paso’s best-known business leaders, having grown Fred Loya Insurance from a one-person office into one of the 20 largest Hispanic companies in the United States.
Perches Funeral Home announced Loya’s death in a Facebook post on Sunday, Feb. 22, saying Loya’s “leadership and entrepreneurial vision left a lasting impact on the El Paso community.” Funeral services have not yet been announced.
News reports on Channel 7-KVIA and Telemundo Channel 48-KTDO confirmed Loya’s death.
Fred Loya Christmas lights become El Paso holiday tradition
The Loya House’s annual Christmas light show is a 20-year tradition in the Frontier region that has gained national renown and was named the nation’s best family holiday light show in the 2014 ABC television special “The Great Battle of Christmas Lights.”
With more than 450,000 lights synchronized to holiday, classical and pop music, this joyful show draws thousands of spectators each night in front of Loya’s home on Paseo de Oro in the Montewood area of ​​East El Paso.
Fred Loya Sr. applauds during the opening ceremony and Christmas tree lighting ceremony sponsored by his company during the holiday light show on Nov. 25, 2022, in Ascarate Park.
“We thought, why don’t we design something for people that everyone can enjoy. All kids from 1 to 101 years old,” Loya told the El Paso Times in 2017. “We came up with the light show and it just grew from there, you know. Now it’s bigger than any of us could ever have put it together and created and thought about. It’s really this family’s gift to the city of El Paso.”
Loya partners with El Paso County to sponsor the 2022-2023 Ascaret Park Spectacular Lakeside Holiday Lights Show before returning in 2024 for the annual Family Holiday Show.
“I’m honored to be able to help the youth of El Paso”
Fred Loya Insurance is also known for its sponsorship of a variety of sporting events, including championship boxing and youth baseball.
The Fred Loya Insurance Baseball Series showcases high school teams from the area competing at the El Paso Chihuahua Ballpark in Southwest College Park.
In 2020, Loya was inducted into the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame for his decades of support of baseball at all levels, including assisting local teams with raising funds to renovate ballparks, providing scoreboards and helping children attend games.
“I’m honored to be able to help the youth of El Paso,” Loya said in 2020. “Baseball is a noble game. Baseball has helped so many people in different ways. El Paso has a long history of excellence in baseball, and I’m honored to be recognized and be a part of a special group.”
El Paso’s Fred Loya Insurance Company expands nationwide
Loya was born in California in 1939 to immigrant parents. His father owned a grocery store. After college, Loya started working in bookkeeping and buying cattle for the family ranch, Loya told the Hispanic Entrepreneurs Oral History Project at the University of Texas at El Paso in 2009.
In the 1970s, Loya was one of the most successful agents at Farmer’s Insurance in El Paso and decided to start his own independent auto insurance business, Loya Insurance Group, in 1974, focusing on low-income, underserved communities, according to the historical project.
Fred Loya Insurance started with liability insurance in 1985 and has grown to thousands of employees and 700 offices in Walmart stores and supermarkets in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Illinois.
Loya handed the company over to his children in the early 2000s and continues to serve as chairman emeritus, according to the History Project.
The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named Loya the 2010 Hispanic Businessman of the Year.
Daniel Borunda can be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared in the El Paso Times: Fred Loya Sr. remembered for El Paso business success, Christmas spirit
