María Magdalena Gómez Salgado

Our beloved matriarch María Magdalena Gomez Salgado (aka Magda + Mama Magda) passed on to glory on May 19th, 2023 after a prolonged health struggle due to a respiratory condition, which ultimately impacted her heart. 

Magda was a fierce feminist organizer and community leader in the migrant rights movement. She became a life-long advocate for survivors of violence, migrant women + children and the Mexican / Latinx and multiracial immigrant community at large. Magda was also an artist and avid herbalist - she loved nature and all its healing medicine.  

Magda loved her family like no other: she had an expansive birth and chosen family that included countless LGBTQ young folks and kinfolks, which she saw as her own.  Magda was an ESL & adult literacy educator and advocate for healing justice, decolonization, collective liberation and full family acceptance till her last breath.

Magda leaves behind countless friends, 7 children: her daughter Paulina (Ashe) and sons Efrain, Angel (Linwood), Juan Pablo (Jasmine) and 3 grandchildren: Ciera Marie, Phoenix and Max; as well as countless aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, godchildren and 3 fur babies. Magda also leaves behind her best friend Maria, two beloved siblings: Gabriela and Vicente, and one beloved sister-in-law, Lorena. 

We honor her commitment to community and movement building by sharing this news with the people and communities she loved and fought for. 

We are SO grateful for everyone who has reached out for your support, and for every kindness that Duke University Hospital medical staff showed her during her extended stay. We are forever grateful.