Alex R. Garcia Sr., former Pima County Planning and Zoning director whose work helped shape Tucson’s development for more than three decades, died Thursday. He was 88.
Garcia died at his home of natural causes, said his son, Alex R. Garcia Jr. Shortly before his death, family members prayed the rosary with him, and he also listened to Big Band music by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, said his son.
“My mother enjoyed that music, and her and my dad danced to it at El Casino Ballroom for years,” said Garcia Jr. He said his father missed his wife, Grace, who died eight years ago, and he was ready to join her.
Garcia, a native of Nogales, Sonora, moved with his family to Tucson when he was age 4. He attended local schools and graduated from Tucson High School in 1946. While at Tucson High, he began working part-time as a draftsman for the then-Tucson/Pima County Planning Department.
He joined the Army after graduation, and that is when he became a U.S. naturalized citizen, said Garcia Jr. He said his father served with the 69th Topographic Engineers in Seoul and drew maps from aerial surveillance images. The maps guided troops and made missions safer for them.
After the service, Garcia Sr. returned to Tucson in 1948 and rejoined the city/county planning department. He contributed to writings about urban and regional policy and floodplain management systems, said Garcia Jr.
By 1964, Garcia Sr. was named Pima County Planning and Zoning director and helped with development of the county, and neighborhoods, including the establishment of historical districts. He also established airport ordinances for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the Tucson International Airport.
“My dad taught me integrity,” said Garcia Jr. He recalled when he was a young boy that his father’s job included the approval of building permits. “Developers would send gifts to the house, and my dad would send them right back unopened. He would tell us kids not to touch the gifts. My dad could not be bought,” Garcia Jr. proudly recalled.
Tucson builder John Wesley Miller, 82, remembered the first zoning permit issued to him by Garcia Sr. cost $9. “It was in the 1950s. Alex was a man of honor. A handshake deal with Alex was as good as a signed contract. He was a good man. I had a professional relationship and a friendship with him,” Miller said.
Garcia Sr., who was inducted into the Tucson High Hall of Fame in 2009, also served on the board of directors for the Arizona Historical Society, was a founding member of the Pima Air & Space Museum and also of the Patronato San Xavier, an organization that promotes the preservation and restoration of Mission San Xavier del Bac.
He is survived by five children and seven grandchildren.
Services are Thursday, April 14, at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, 300 S. Tucson Blvd. A viewing is at 11 a.m. followed by a rosary at 11:30 a.m. The funeral Mass is at noon and burial will follow at Holy Hope Cemetery, 3555 N. Oracle Road.
