Frank Bonilla Professor Frank Bonilla ( February 3 , 1925 – December 28 , 2010 ) was an American academic of Puerto Rican descent who became a leading figure in Puerto Rican Studies . After earning his doctorate from Harvard University , where his dissertation was supervised by Talcott Parsons , he had held faculty positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Stanford University and the City University of New York . He is a key figure in the establishment of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Leadership Forum and the Center for Puerto Rico Studies at the City University of New York . Biography . Bonilla was born in New York City in 1925 . His parents were both from Puerto Rico and had moved to the United States early in their lives . His mother emigrated to the United States in hopes of attending college , and his father had been a cigar maker and had served in the U . S . Cavalry . They were on the same boat going to the United States , and it was there where they met and began their courtship . Bonilla was raised around East Harlem , a neighborhood full of diversity of culture and race . He said that children were very often exposed to multiple languages at an early age and that they became bilingual to interact with people in their day - to - day lives . Bonilla spent his first years of high school attending a Franciscan high school in Illinois , where he showed academic and leadership skills . His favorite subjects were classical Greek , Latin , Spanish , French , and German . He was also elected President of his class . Bonilla then transferred to Morris High School ( Bronx , New York ) . After he graduated from Morris high in 1943 , he was drafted and assigned to a weapons platoon . Bonilla was taught to be a mortar gunner and was assigned to the 290th Infantry Regiment , 75th Infantry Division . World War II service . The 290th Infantry Regiment , 75th Infantry Division was involved in the Battle of the Bulge . Bonilla served in this battle at the front of the line for nearly a month . After serving at the front lines , Bonilla sustained an injury and had to be hospitalized in France . After a brief three week hospitalization , Bonilla was reassigned to a replacement depot in France . It was there that he was invited to join the Puerto Rican National Guard near Frankfurt and assigned as the company clerk . He soon realized that the Puerto Rican soldiers had a divide . The Puerto Rican soldiers raised in the United States were looked down upon by those who had grown up in Puerto Rico , and referred to the emigrated Puerto Ricans as " American Joes " . Bonilla said of this experience , " The military experience helped to consolidate my sense of being Puerto Rican and also a sense of wanting to study and be a scholar . " Post - war career . Bonilla returned to the United States after he was discharged from the military and made use of the educational benefits of the G . I . Bill to attend the College of the City of New York . He graduated cum laude in 1949 with a B . A . in business administration . He went on to pursue a master ’ s degree in sociology from New York University , which he earned in 1954 . He attended Harvard University and received a doctorate in sociology soon after . Dr . Bonilla played a key role in the formation of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Leadership Forum to help manage the needs of Puerto Ricans in New York . He also played an instrumental role in the formation of the Center for Puerto Rico Studies at the City University of New York , where he served as founding director until his retirement in 1995 . He died after a long illness on December 28 , 2010 . References . & Economic Importance of Puerto Rico for the History of the US . ( 2005 ) . Retrieved March 3 , 2007 from lap . sagepub . com / cgi / content / abstract / 3 / 3 / 46 . External links .