Peter J. Garcia
July 23, 1935 - November 16, 2022
Peter was a teacher, lover of nature, ocean kayaker, botanist, world traveler, and mountain man, some might say mountain goat for all the peaks of Yosemite and others he conquered. He was a rock climber, a skill he taught, and he had an advanced scuba open water certificate. One of his greatest passions was botany, and he became an expert specifically in grasses, discovering one species that became named for him at the Jepson Herbaria at UC Berkeley.
He lived his life in the Bay Area, for the past 40 years in El Cerrito. Pete attended Berkeley schools and after some years in college, he served in the U.S. Army. He subsequently received his bachelor’s degree from what was to become San Francisco State University. Pete taught at a private school outside of Ukiah and then went to Spain where he taught American English in Valencia and Barcelona.
He returned to S.F. State and earned a Lifetime Teaching Credential; in 1966 he began teaching Spanish, Social Studies and Photography in middle schools in the Mount Diablo School District until he retired in 1993. He took several sabbaticals: one extensive one to China and trekking in Tibet and another to earn a master’s degree from San Jose State University.
Being a teacher meant Pete could spend his summers wherever he chose and he took advantage of that freedom and made numerous trips to Europe, the mountains of the U.S., the Grand Canyon, the deserts of the southwest and many other places. In later years, he had a house in Baja and kayaked in the Gulf of Mexico, exploring islands, doing his botany and having small adventures including whales swimming next to his kayak. He also was fortunate to have traveled many times to Africa where his talent in photography delivered wonderful animal pictures.
Pete was born at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. His father was Le Verne W. Garcia, his mother Olive MacIntosh. He had an older brother, Le Verne Jr. who is deceased. His father and mother divorced when Pete was very young and his father married Lucy Hutchins Johnson. Lucy had a daughter, Alice, and in time Lucy and Verne Sr. had a son, Robert.
Pete is survived by his brother Robert Garcia, DVM, and his sister, Alice Trinkl, both of Oakland. Also by nieces and nephews Mike Garcia, Steve Garcia, Tom Garcia, Kate Garcia, Ryan Garcia and his wife Sara, Steven Baloff and wife Deborah, Katherine Chesbrough and husband Henry, and Robert’s wife, Jan Garcia, and Alice’s husband, John Trinkl.