Morrow, Warren Allen 1977-2012

MORROW, FERNANDEZ, ACEVEDO

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 2/8/2021 at 14:23:30

Warren Morrow
1977 - 2012
Des Moines

Warren Allen Morrow, 34, went on to spread his love from above on Wednesday, February 15, 2012. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, February 18, 2012 at Grace United Methodist Church, 3700 Cottage Grove Ave., Des Moines. His family will receive friends 5 to 8 p.m., Friday, February 17 at Iles Funeral Homes - Dunn's Chapel.

Warren was born in 1977 to Rosa Maria Celis de Morrow and Walter Warren Morrow in Mexico City. He grew up in Mexico, moving to Tucson, AZ at the age of nine. He attended Palo Verde High School and later graduated with a degree in biology from Grinnell College. He and his Grinnell classmates founded the Latino Leadership Project in 1999 to help Latino high school students in Des Moines strive and reach higher education. Later, with the help of friends and colleagues he transitioned the organization to Partners in Economic Progress. After co-founding Diverse Innovative Solutions, he started Coopera Consulting, a firm dedicated to helping credit unions grow the Hispanic market and create more banked families within Latino communities across the country. He was an avid volunteer in the Des Moines community, participating on various boards of directors such as the Des Moines Botanical Center, and helped launch the first-ever Iowa Latino Heritage Festival in 2001.

Aside from his charitable work, Warren enjoyed leading urban development, helping create the Latino business corridor in the East Grand neighborhood, becoming a co-owner of Dos Rios Mexican Cantina, and buying and updating an older home in the Drake neighborhood. He won various awards such as a Civil Rights Honor and was frequently featured in national trade magazines and newspapers, and was often called upon as an expert in Hispanic Marketing - presenting to thousands at conferences all over the United States.

Warren will be forever loved by Christina Fernandez-Morrow, his best friend, soul mate and wife and their orgullo y alegría, Ariana Morrow, whom he adored wholeheartedly. His sister Nancy Lorena Acevedo, and his parents will also carry part of him en sus almas and hearts. He was a pillar in his family as a loving uncle, charismatic cousin and nephew, and nieto querido to his grandmothers, Antonia Celis and Willa Morrow.

In the outpouring of love from his friends, co-workers, friends and those who knew him, he is described as a mentor, leader, example, confidante, advisor, and inspiration. Warren was known to those who loved him as intelligent, funny, passionate, easy-going, hard-working, giving, loving, generous, professional, spirited, caring, warm and overall wonderful individual who put others before himself and worked to make the world a more just place for all.

A special thank you to those who showed him love, support, encouragement and happiness during his life. He felt blessed every day to have known such thoughtfulness in all who knew him and was most appreciative of those who shared their kindness and caring with those he loved most. Words cannot express the loss of this most amazing man who will now be with us through the legacies he has left in all our hearts.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, there is a memorial fund in his name set up at the Des Moines Metro Credit Union where funds will be divided among the charities Warren worked with, as well as a college fund for his daughter.

To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store. ~ The Des Moines (IA) Register 17 Feb 2012.