Victor Garlin

December 18, 1935 - February 26, 2023

Victor Garlin, professor of radical economics, lawyer, and restorer of vintage Jaguars, died of acute leukemia on February 26, 2023 at age 87. Garlin grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan after having been born in Moscow, Russia (on December 18, 1935), where his father was a foreign correspondent of the Daily Worker. Garlin completed Stuyvesant High School in three years and matriculated at UC Berkeley in 1952 at the age of 16.

At Cal, Garlin lived in the housing co-op at Oxford Hall and credited the co-op with making it economically possible for him to be a college student. He was active in campus politics including the student political party SLATE and the Free Speech Movement. Garlin continued at UCB and earned a PhD in Economics which led to teaching and research positions at the University of California at San Francisco, UCB’s School of Public Health and Sonoma State University, where he earned tenure and taught for 37 years.

In 1977, Garlin was appointed to the California Health Facilities Commission and elected as chair. He was honored with a joint resolution of commendation by both houses of the California Legislature. At age 45, in 1980, Garlin became a student at Hastings College of the Law. He was a member of the bar from 1984 until 1997. Starting in 1987, Garlin drew on his combined expertise in economics and law to teach classes at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business for 17 consecutive summers, while continuing to teach full time at Sonoma State and leading the Sonoma chapter of the California Faculty Association.

Garlin had a knack for acquiring diamond-in-therough vintage Jaguars and restoring them to car-show condition. He enjoyed driving his 1950sera British racing green XK150 drop-head coupe around Berkeley, in a tweed cap, greeting friends old and new. In his retirement, Garlin served on the board of directors of the Berkeley Student Cooperative Alumni Association, returning to the same organization that had provided him housing when he was in college.

Garlin’s keen interest in conversation, his prodigious memory, and his commitment to helping people think through dilemmas and overcome setbacks, will be missed by colleagues, family and dear friends. He is survived by his beloved wife Marjorie, married since 1970, their two daughters Amy (m. Richard) and Rachel (m. Laela), his half-brother, Alex Garlin of Boulder CO, and five adored grandchildren: Rose, Vivian, Nate, Theo and JJ.

MEMORIAL MEETING: Sunday, April 30 at 11am at the UC Berkeley Alumni House. For more information, please email the family at rgarlin@gmail.com.