Sal Torres

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Sal Torres (Born October 13, 1960) is an American Democratic politician from California. He has served as Councilman on the council of Daly City, California from 1996. He has also been Mayor (2000-2004) and was elected Vice Mayor in 2004 (term expires in 2008).

He was born in Los Angeles, the second son of Peruvian immigrants, Cesar and Graciela Torres. He graduated with honors and with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Education from University of California, Los Angeles in 1983. After spending a year teaching 3rd grade at East Los Angeles Elementary School, Mr. Torres became the Public Relations coordinator and administrator for the LA City Rent Control Division. In 1983, he was co-producer and host of Radio Consumidor, the first all-Spanish language consumer affairs program on LA radio station KALI.

By 1985, Mr. Torres moved to San Francisco to attend and obtained a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the The University of San Francisco School of Law in 1988. He still holds the distinction of being the only USF law school graduate to receive both the Harold J. Haley Award (given by the faculty) and the Student Bar Association Award (voted on by the graduates) in the same year. While a partner at a boutique litigation defense firm, Mr. Torres also hosted the popular public affairs television show "El Amanecer" [Daybreak] featuring issues and people from the Latino community on the Channel 44, UPN-TV. He interviewed such distinguished guests as comedian George Lopez (now on ABC's "George Lopez Show"), Hollywood producer, Moctezuma Esparza ("Selena") and legendary San Francisco Blues guitarist, Tommy Castro, of the Tommy Castro Band. In the 2000 US Presidential race, Mr. Torres, as then Daly City Mayor, welcomed and introduced Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry to a crowd of Daly City residents during Mr. Kerry's Town Hall gatherings.

Torres presently is Sr. Corporate Counsel at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. in Santa Clara, California, a Fortune 500 company and a world leader in the semiconductor chip business. Previously, he was Division Counsel for LSI Corporation, also in Silicon Valley. Torres also spent six years as Assistant General Counsel at Arysta Life Sciences North America, the world's largest privately held agricultural chemical company. Mr. Torres holds a California Real Estate Brokers License and has authored four articles in various trade magazines. Married to Leslie, BSN, RN (USF '88). Two children.