Roberto de la Madrid, who became the first U.S.-born governor of a Mexican state when he took office in 1977 in Baja California, has died. He was 88.

De la Madrid died March 19, officials from Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party confirmed. He had cancer and died in Tijuana, according to media reports.

Born in 1922 in Calexico, Calif., to Mexican parents, he was taken across the border to Mexicali soon after his birth.

Raised on both sides of the border, de la Madrid counted Jose Lopez Portillo — then president of Mexico — as his closest personal friend when the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party chose him as their candidate for governor of Baja California.

He is credited with helping to usher in a new era of friendly border relations between Baja California and California. De la Madrid also built up the region’s tourist industry and successfully attracted foreign investors.