Pete Garcia passed away on May 3rd. A warm remembrance appeared recently in Shelterforce.

I saw Pete last in March at a Board meeting I sat in on in Washington, DC. It had been years, but we fell quickly into conversation.

Pete had retired as President & CEO of Chicanos por la Causa but he had not stopped working. He described the range of things he was still building, and I listened with admiration.

By the time I joined the community development world in the late 1980s, Pete was a legend. Starting with nothing but determination, he built a world-class development organization. More impressive, over decades he and Chicanos por la Causa never lost focus on its mission.

Pete made the world better, and I will miss seeing him, appreciating his cheerful determination, and learning what matters.