Maria Portalatin, a fearless fighter for labor and Latino rights who helped found the UFT Paraprofessionals Chapter in 1969 and served as its chapter leader for more than 25 years, died on Dec. 5. She was 77.

“Maria was a true pioneer,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. “She played a huge role in getting paraprofessionals the respect they deserved by joining the union, and she was a tireless worker for Latino affairs.”

Shelvy Young-Abrams, who replaced Portalatin as the paras’ chapter leader in 2006, told just how tough Portalatin could be.

When paras were in a bargaining dispute with the city in the mid-1970s, Portalatin led her chapter members to City Hall.

“She said to Mayor Beame, ‘If we don’t get what we’re asking for, we’re prepared to have a sit-in and stay here as long as we have to,’” Young-Abrams said. “Beame humbled himself and gave us exactly what we wanted.”

Young-Abrams added that Portalatin’s trademark motto was “Yes I can, yes I will, and I make a difference.”

Portalatin, who was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and moved to the United States as a young girl, was a single parent supporting three children by babysitting and crocheting when she started working as a para in the 1960s.

For more than a decade, Portalatin was a national and local leader of the National Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, which promotes participation of workers of Latino descent and their families in the U.S. union movement and the political process.

Besides her position with the UFT, Portalatin was a longtime board member for the New York State United Teachers and an American Federation of Teachers vice president.

When the UFT established its Wall of Honor, which pays tribute to the giants of the union and is displayed in the lobby at 52 Broadway, Portalatin was one of the original inductees.

Portalatin received countless awards, including the Charles Cogen Award — the UFT’s highest honor for a member — on Teacher Union Day in 2006. The AFT gave Portalatin its 2006 Women’s Rights Award at its convention that summer in Boston. She also earned the Sandy Feldman Outstanding Leadership Award, NYSUT’s highest honor for women, in 2010.

Always keeping current, Portalatin was active on Facebook. She often posted photos and made note of accomplishments by her children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, while also keeping up with the lives of her 420 Facebook friends, many of whom she met through her activism.

The AFT Latino Caucus, which she founded, created the Maria Portalatin National Freedom Scholarship in her honor. This student scholarship reflects Portalatin’s conviction that through education, students are empowered

Contributions to support the scholarship may be made in Portalatin’s memory.