Dear USC Rossier community,
It is with sadness that I report of the passing this weekend of one of our recent faculty members, Pedro Garcia.
The son of educators, Dr. Garcia immigrated to the United States from Cuba when he was 15, one of 14,000 Cuban children relocated through the Catholic Welfare Bureau’s Operation Peter Pan.
He earned his EdD as a Trojan in 1983, and would go on to lead multiple school districts, including Carpinteria, Corona-Norco and, from 2001-08, Nashville schools, where his efforts to improve equity for the city’s Black students often met fierce resistance. Dr. Garcia joined USC Rossier as a professor of clinical education in 2008.
He was often sought out for additional leadership opportunities. In 2003, then-President George W. Bush appointed him to the Presidential Commission on Service and Community Participation. At USC, he served on the Academic Leadership Development Committee, and he was inducted into the Dean’s Superintendents Advisory Group Hall of Fame in 2015.
Dr. Garcia was a mentor and friend to many, and will be missed. More than a consistent presence at the Coliseum, he was a huge football fan having travelled to Los Angeles from Nashville for every home game during his tenure as superintendent. A 2012 article noted that he had not missed a home game since 1977, which at the time was a 35-year streak! Dr. Garcia was fiercely proud of our university and I know he would tell us today to Fight On.
Sincerest regards,
Karen Symms Gallagher, Ph.D.
Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
USC Rossier School of Education
Waite Phillips Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0031
Asst: hardison@usc.edu
213.740.5756 (office)
213.821.2158 (fax)