San Antonio Spurs coach Stan Albeck in 1983.
In 2021, we bid farewell to some notable people who lived in San Antonio or who had ties to the Alamo City.
They were pioneers, leaders or influential figures in areas that include space technology, politics, finance, sports, civil and human rights, business, music, literature entertainment and the arts.
Here is just a sampling of those who left their mark:
Albeck was a fan-favorite Spurs head coach from 1980 to 1983 and guided the team to consecutive appearances in the NBA Western Conference Finals against the showtime Los Angeles Lakers in 1982 and 1983. He spent seven years as an NBA coach (He also coached Cleveland, New Jersey and Chicago) and compiled a 307-267 regular season record, including a 153-93 mark with the Spurs. He entered the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, and died March 25 at his San Antonio home at age 89.
Judge Sarah Garrahan in an undated file photo.
Garrahan-Moulder was a retired jurist and litigator who was part of the team that prosecuted the assassin of U.S. District Judge John H. Wood in San Antonio in the 1970s, considered by some to be the “Crime of the Century” in Bexar County. In 1986, she was elected judge of Bexar County Court-at-Law No. 4, and her popularity helped her keep that bench for nearly three decades until her retirement in 2014. She died March 26 at 84.
Greg Hinojosa, seen in a 2018 production of “The Elephant Man,” is remembered as a theatrical mentor and LGBTQ advocate.
Hinojosa was an influential force in the performing arts, having spent more than 30 years as a prominent member of the city’s theater community. He was a founding member of Magik Theatre and also ran the Woodlawn Theatre for a few years. He was an actor, director, designer, mentor and advocate for the LGBTQ community and the first person in San Antonio to stage the “The Rocky Horror Show.” He succumbed to cancer April 8 at age 57.
Hugh “Sunny” Asa Fitzsimons III.
Hugh “Sunny” Asa Fitzsimons III
Fitzsimons was a conservationist and rancher who penned a memoir of his family’s tensions in 2018. He studied habitat restoration and became active in water conservation in Dimmit County, where fracking on his ranch and other ranches threatened the underground water supply. He died May 16 of esophageal cancer at age 67. He was preceded in death by his father, Hugh “Pappy” Asa Fitzsimons Jr., who passed away on April 17 at 91.
Dr. Tom Tredici is shown in his office in Building 170 at Brooks City Base in this December 2019 photo.
Tredici was one of the standout researchers whose work at the old Brooks AFB helped astronauts survive the hostile environment of low-earth orbit, and eventually, the moon. The opthalmologist and former Army pilot was known for helping design the gold visor Apollo astronauts used to protect their eyes while walking on the moon. He was 98 when he died on April 28.
Hernandez was an artist whose work was collected by Hollywood heavyweights, including Cheech Marin and Helen Mirren. He was likely best known for the paintings he made for the 1993 movie “Blood In Blood Out.” After the movie released, the value of his work surged, and two of his paintings were purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of his paintings from the film is in the San Antonio Museum of Art. Hernandez died May 15 at age 69.
Robert Kiolbassa took over Kiolbassa Smoked Meats in San Antonio at age 21 and was involved with the company from 1960-2021.
Kiolbassa helped turn his parents’ namesake meat company into a sausage powerhouse. From 1960 to 2021, Robert had jobs at the company that included sweeping the floors and fixing broken machines to becoming president and CEO. Under his tenure, Kiolbassa grew from a mostly local sausage outlet into a company that now has two production plants and sells more than 22 million pounds of sausage and bacon nationally in 48 states. He died July 20 at age 84.
Farris is considered one of the matriarchs of the fight for transgender rights in Texas. In 2013, she was one of the leading voices in support of a proposal to prohibit discrimination in San Antonio on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. In 2017, Farris was among hundreds of people who protested at the state Capitol against a series of “bathroom bills” and other legislation advocates feared would harm the LGBTQ community. Farris died July 27 of a heart attack at age 65.
Former boxer Charlie Mata works with young students on Wednesday Dec. 9, 2010 at Advocates Youth Boxing Program.
Mata was a three-time San Antonio Golden Gloves champion who went on to be one of the city’s leading boxing trainers. He was also a pioneer of social justice issues whose public and civil service spanned more than 60 years. He founded Advocate Social Services, one of the first organizations in South Texas to distribute government cheese and butter to the needy. He also founded the Prospect Hill Neighborhood Association and the Advocates Boxing Youth Program, a West Side initiative that teaches boxing and life skills to at-risk youth. He died July 29 at age 80.
San Antonio graphic designer and singer Ruben Cubillos designed Selena’s signature logo.
Cubillos was a musician and graphic artist who designed more than 150 album covers. He designed the cover for Selena’s self-titled 1989 release, her major-label debut, and the design eventually became the Tejano star’s logo. He also designed album covers for Little Joe y la Familia, Ruben Ramos, David Lee Garza and the late Mexican pop star Juan Gabriel. Cubillos was also involved with the founding of the Tejano Music Awards and created design concepts for Vegas Tejano Week. He sang with the Tejano band Latin Breed and died Aug. 1 of cancer. He was 65.
Raba was the former president and vice chairman of the local engineering and consulting firm Raba Kistner Inc., and a civic leader. He was appointed to the board of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority by Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and served on the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, among other roles. Raba died Aug. 13 at his home in Helotes at age 60.
The South Texas playwright, poet and journalist died Aug. 17 at age 80. Barrios started writing book reviews at 16 for his hometown paper, the Victoria Advocate, and went on to write for the San Antonio Express-News, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Film Quarterly, among others. He served in Vietnam, taught school in tiny Texas towns, founded an influential film society at the University of Texas at Austin and spent time in The Factory, Andy Warhol’s famed studio in New York. Barrios published poetry collections and wrote plays that were produced in San Antonio and across the country.
Esparza founded Janie’s Record Shop on the West Side in 1985 and it became the go-to place for Tejano and Conjunto music fans in San Antonio. Her children took over the shop operations and online sales but Janie continued to serve behind the counter for a number of years. In 2019, Janie's Record Shop was named one of the best in America, according to Vinyl Me Please Magazine. She died Sept. 1, three days shy of her 95th birthday.
A 1982 photo of the late Camille Rosengren, owner of Rosengren’s Books. Rosengren died Sept. 11, 2021 at age 94.
Rosengren was the last matron of Rosengren’s Books, the most storied bookseller in San Antonio. For 52 years, the downtown bookstore drew famous patrons and she carried on the family tradition her in-laws started when they established the business in the 1930s. Camille, known as “Cam,” also was as an assistant librarian at San Antonio College and a researcher for the Institute of Texan Cultures before taking up the Rosengren’s mantle. She died Sept. 11 of heart failure at age 94.
Webb, a former San Antonio city councilman and longtime community leader on the East Side, passed away Sept. 18 at age 86. Webb served seven terms as District 2 city councilman from 1977 through 1991, and became the first official elected to that position after council elections shifted from at-large seats to 10 districts to ensure equal representation.
Meacham wrote a series of sweeping historical romances that captivated audiences nationwide. Her breakout book, the New York Times bestseller “Roses,” was published in 2010 when she was 70, and earned comparisons to “Gone With the Wind.” She passed away Sept. 19 at age 83.
Stinson was a revered and feared metro columnist for the San Antonio Express-News from 1974 to 2008. His friends and some of his targets over the years recalled him as a curmudgeonly scold and a scholarly, hardworking, high-impact writer. His readers knew him to champion the fixed-income retiree and to stand up for the voiceless mechanic or janitor while repeatedly lancing City Hall politicians. Stinson died Sept. 29 of urethral cancer at age 81.
Jo Long died Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021 at the age of 71.
For two decades, Long shook up San Antonio’s arts scene as executive director of the Carver Community Cultural Center on the East Side, which she transformed into a showcase for multicultural performances and visual arts. The Carver was built in 1918 as a community center for African Americans that later served as a venue for entertainers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. The building was set to be demolished in the 1970s but was renovated and reopened in 1977 as the Carver Community Cultural Center. As executive director, Long presided over the center’s rebirth and retired from that post in 2000. She died Oct. 12 at age 71.
Charles Cheever Jr., then-president of Broadway Bank, right, with his father Charles Cheever Sr. in 1980.
Cheever presided over San Antonio’s Broadway Bank as president for more than two decades. Under his watch, Broadway Bank grew into one of the largest independently-owned financial institutions in Texas. The bank’s assets rose from $13 million to $1.7 billion while Cheever was at the helm. Today, it has roughly $5.1 billion in assets, more than 600 employees, and is the second-largest family owned bank in the state. Cheever, also a philanthropist and civic leader, passed away Oct. 29 at age 93.
Vera was a champion for Latino civil rights in Texas and nationally. As the national general counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens, he filed and won lawsuits on a range of topics from voting rights to educational, employment and housing discrimination. He also represented 17-year-old Texas beauty queen Dominique Ramirez, who was allegedly told by Miss San Antonio pageant officials to “get off the tacos” for gaining weight in a sensational case that drew international media attention. Ramirez, a size 2, had her crown returned in 2011 by a judge after a jury ruled that she was wrongly stripped of her title as Miss San Antonio. Vera died Nov. 21 at age 65 from a lengthy illness.
U.S. Rep. Albert Bustamante in an undated file photo.
Bustamante rose from dirt-poor roots in Asherton, north of Laredo, to become Bexar County’s first Hispanic county judge in 1979 and won a seat in Congress in 1984, which he held until 1992. News of an FBI fraud and racketeering investigation helped destroy his re-election bid and by 1993, Bustamante was convicted of accepting $344,000 in bribes while in Congress. He served three years in prison, though he continued to fight the conviction for years afterward. He died Nov. 30 of a lengthy illness at age 86.
Air Force Gen. Billy Boles.
Boles rose through Air Force officer ranks to earn four stars, rare for someone who wasn’t a pilot, on a mix of administrative and people skills. As head of the San Antonio-based Air Education and Training Command, he helped the service’s chief of staff distill the Air Force’s core values in 1997 (integrity, service above self and excellence). He then cemented them into Air Force culture by publishing “The Little Blue Book” that is still handed to every new airman. Boles died Dec. 9 at 83.
Nesmith, the Texas-born singer-songwriter who rocketed to fame as a member of the made-for-TV rock group the Monkees, died Dec. 10 at his home in California at age 78. He was a pioneer of alternative country music and of the music video format. He also was the son of a pioneer in the office supplies industry. Born in Houston, he grew up in Dallas but also lived in San Antonio. He joined the Air Force in 1960 and did his basic training at Lackland AFB. After he received an early discharge in 1962, he returned to attend San Antonio College, where he studied speech and drama for a year.
guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Misty Harris contributed to this report
Guillermo has been with the Express-News for 10 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of that time. He has also covered immigration, minority affairs and legal affairs as part of the projects team here and for other print, TV and radio outlets. Guillermo has also worked in Central America, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and California and his work has appeared in various publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, Denver Post and the Albuquerque Journal.