In Memorium: Dr. Héctor Garza (1956-2023) 

 It is with great sadness that I share that NCCEP’s founding President, Dr. Héctor Garza, passed away on February 21, 2023.

As you might know, the creation of the GEAR UP program in 1998 was nothing short of a minor miracle, with a single and unexpected committee vote bringing the program to life. Even among a strong cadre of political and education leaders working towards the establishment of the program, Dr. Garza was a uniquely powerful and influential force in shaping the trajectory of GEAR UP.

The early years of GEAR UP were fraught with existential challenges and very few could have imagined that it would grow into the program that it is today. It is my belief that our collective success over the past two decades would not be possible were it not for Héctor’s steadfast leadership.

He believed that education played an outsized role in accelerating social mobility for students from low-income communities, but knew that we needed more strategic collaborations between K12, higher education, and community leaders to do so. He worked tirelessly to bring this notion of community-education partnerships into the mainstream of education policy and practice.

He recognized the power within each of our GEAR UP leaders and practitioners and did so much to cultivate the trust, collaboration, and network of support that continues to make our community so unique.

He was passionate about student success, which led him to be widely known as a fierce and hard-charging advocate for the things he and our community believed in. To those of us who worked with him, that characterization was certainly true, but woefully incomplete. Héctor was kind, empathetic, and always quick to laugh—traits that defined him as a leader, friend, and loving father.

In my first job interview with NCCEP, Héctor shared that he defined his professional success by the numbers of lives that he impacted, the number of doors that he opened, and the desire to create permanent structures to address inequity in education. It is our deepest hope that the Garza family can find comfort, solace, and pride in the fact that Héctor achieved his goal: his life’s work helped millions of students in the United States and México. That we carry on in pursuit of his vision is a testament to his remarkable life and impact.

We offer our deepest condolences to the Garza family and all those that knew Héctor. I know I speak for many in expressing my deepest gratitude for his friendship, his work, and his mentorship. 

Alex Chough
NCCEP