María Esther Zuno

After her husband left office, Zuno retreated from public life. She died in Mexico City in 1999, just days before her 75th birthday, of complications from diabetes.

For 1970 to 1976, Zuno served as first lady during the presidency of her husband, Luis Echeverría. She rejected the title of primera dama (first lady), preferring to be called compañera. In this period, she undertook an intense endeavor to improve social welfare in the country, described by some as the greatest degree of involvement of a Mexican first lady since the time of Eva Sámano, the wife of President Adolfo López Mateos. Her work as first lady included not only social welfare but also promoting women's rights and Mexican folkloric tradition.

Zuno met Luis Echeverría at the home of the artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, with whom they were friends. The couple's social circle also included the artists David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco. After a five-year engagement, Zuno and Echeverría, a law student at the time, were married on 2 January 1945. The groom's friend José López Portillo, a future president of Mexico, served as their witness.

María Esther Zuno Arce (8 December 1924 – 4 December 1999) was the wife of Mexican President Luis Echeverría and the first lady of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. She refused to adopt the standard title of primera dama (first lady), preferring to be called compañera (meaning partner, companion, or comrade). She was known for her efforts to support women's rights and social welfare in Mexico.

María Esther Zuno Arce was born in Guadalajara, in Mexico's Jalisco state, in 1924. She was the third of twelve children born to Carmen Arce, a homemaker, and José Guadalupe Zuno [es], a former governor of Jalisco.