Tribute
Richard Garcia
(1951-2021)
We were devastated to learn that (Louis) Richard Garcia had died this past Halloween. We offer our condolences to his partner, Tim Brockhum, and his younger sister, Arlene. Like them, we will miss his aimable nature and his gregarious spirit.
Funny and sweet and a bulldog in his fight against the cancers that tried to stop him, Richard was demonstrative and loved to engage others in conversation. He had the gruff voice of one of our cover story subjects, Harvey Fierstein, and I remember when Richard and I were manning a commerical booth at a gay men’s chorus event in San José, California, and Harvey himself stopped by to say hello and pick up more copies of his issue. When Richard and Harvey began talking, it became hard to tell them apart. Gravelly tones in stereo!
After he moved upstate from New York City to the Capital Region, he soon joined A&U, then in its early days, and quickly became indispensible to its operations, managing subscription and distribution databases and also performing the bookkeeping for our nonprofit. His dedication helped to strengthen the magazine and make it is what it is today. I cannot count the times when he saved the day. It’s hard to think of A&U without him, but we will soldier on in honor of his memory.
—David Waggoner