A post office will be named for a beloved former Bronx borough president, an honor that his widow says is a fitting tribute for the man who blazed a path for many others.

Herman Badillo left Puerto Rico for the U.S. mainland when he was just 11. He went on to graduate at the top of his classes in both college and law school, and worked as a campaign organizer for John F. Kennedy.

Badillo became the first Puerto Rican borough president in the Bronx, the first Puerto Rican representative elected to Congress, and the first Puerto Rican deputy mayor of New York City.

"While now there are so many people who have followed in his footsteps because of the doors he opened, he was the first. And to be the first is always very difficult," Gayle Badillo says of her late husband.

Congress unanimously passed a bill to rename the Morrisania post office to honor Herman Badillo, and it was approved by the president.

The official dedication ceremony will be held Monday morning.