Born in Bakersfield on May 28, 1939, Dr. Garcia graduated from Garces Memorial High School in 1957. After college, he served as an elementary school teacher in San Diego, from 1964 to 1972, when he signed on for the adventure of helping build a teacher education program from scratch at the new college in his hometown.
“In the early days of bilingual education, he developed all the programs at Cal State,” said Dr. Thomas Martinez, a longtime colleague of Garcia’s, who taught public policy and administration at CSUB. “When Cal State was built, it meant a lot to this community, and Gus was here at the beginning to build the school of education.”
The two became immediate friends after meeting on campus in the mid-1980s, when Dr. Martinez joined the university and Dr. Garcia returned at the invitation of then-President Tomás Arciniega, after working at the University of the Pacific and San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton for a few years.
“There were not many Latino faculty members or students at that time,” Dr. Martinez said. “Now the campus is filled with Latinokids and it’s tempting to think of that as a natural thing but that shift hasn’t just been evolutionary as the demographics have changed. It’s been revolutionary. It took a lot of work from a lot of people to reach out to those kids and populations and make them welcome.”
During his long career at CSUB, Dr. Garcia worked in teacher education, advanced educational studies and educational administration. He retired from CSUB in 2009 and continued onin the Faculty Early Retirement Program until 2014.
But his work as a supporter of CSUB never stopped.
“Gus was the first person to call me after news of my appointment as dean to welcome me and to provide me with a rundown of the history of education at CSUB,” said Dr. James Rodriguez, dean of the School of Social Sciences and Education since 2020.
Zelezny, too, received the hospitality of the Garcias, who invited her to their home for a reception with faculty and community members on a busy weekend when she was moving from Fresno to Bakersfield in 2018.
“Gus felt like Dr. Zelezny was a breath of fresh air, and he was so happy that the university was in good hands,” Mrs. Garcia said.
That certainly extends to the teacher education program, Dr. Rodriguez said, noting that dozens of teachers receive theirbilingual certification every year.
“I would say the spirit of social justice is alive and well at CSUB generally but certainly within the school of Social Sciences and Education and within the education program because of early faculty leaders like Gus,” he said.
In 2018, Garcia was part of the first class of six to be inducted into the CSUB Faculty Hall of Fame. Dr. Suleiman was one of several nominators.
“This is not a professor, this is not a teacher, this is like a god figure to these kids, who are quite young, coming out of high school,” he said. “For many, the future is full of foreboding and apprehension, so they come into the program and get someone like Gus and they would feel affirmed socially, culturally, academically and lifted up. That overshadows everything else, once you create that climate of self-worth.”
Away from the university, Dr. Garcia was active in his church, with the Knights of Columbus and at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, where his grandchildren attend.
“He connected with the children,” his wife said. “The children are saying, ‘Where’s Gus, where’s Gus?’ He was my rock. My friend. The love of my life. Always there for me, always willing to do anything for me as I was for him. Always there for his children and loved his grandchildren. He was a family guy.”
Dr. Martinez said Dr. Garcia had a wonderful sense of play.
“Everybody who knows him would say he always had a smile and a hug and a bad joke. I’ll really miss those bad jokes.”
Dr. Garcia is survived by his wife; sons Michael, Stephen and Nicolas Garcia; daughter Cathy Garcia, stepson Patrick Mendoza and several grandchildren. His daughter Jill Garcia-Britt preceded him in death.
Mrs. Garcia was in the process of making funeral arrangements Tuesday.