- Date Of Birth: July 23, 1954
- Date Of Death: February 23, 2020
- State: Connecticut
Stephen Peter Garcia passed away on February 23, 2020. He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather to his girls: his loving wife Laurinda “Rindy” Fox Garcia, daughters Emily (Joshua Seeds) Garcia, Jillian (Jonathan) Miner, Stephanie (Kyle Merrill) Garcia, honorary son Lee Reopell and granddaughter Louisa. One of his favorite and most recent names was Abuelo (“Buelo”). He is also survived by his father, John Garcia; his brothers, Raymond (Merrillyn), John Paul (Patricia), Edward (Sarah), Victor, and Tony (Christina) Garcia; many nieces, nephews, cousins, and four step-grandchildren. He also leaves some very close friends, too many to name, but they know who they are. He is predeceased by his mother, Antoinette Civitello Garcia.
Born on July 23, 1954, in New Haven, Connecticut, Steve was a talented athlete and throughout his school years played football and placed statewide in gymnastics competitions. He was a member of the undefeated 1972 freshman football team at Cornell University under Coach Ted Thoren. Steve was a life-long supporter of Cornell sports and one of the co-founding members of the Cornell Football Association. He received a civil engineering degree from Cornell in 1976, and married Rindy in 1978, whom he met at Cornell. He was also a proud member of the Alpha Psi of Chi Psi fraternity. Steve and Rindy started their life together in Chicago and then moved back to the New Haven area to work in the family construction business. He stayed in construction management and general contracting for 44 years. The engineer in him was always interested in building and inventing and he also created beautiful works of blown glass and stained glass. Outside of work, Steve was an active member of St.
As busy as he was, Steve always had time to spend with his daughters, he made sure he was at every event. Teaching them to fish and to handle a boat, coaching their sports teams, attending their dance and music recitals, moving them into college and new homes, and sharing with them his passion for all things Big Red, especially Cornell Football.
Steve was a force of nature, and will be remembered for his warmth, his generosity, his sharp wit, his inspired leadership, his love of people and especially for his stories. He was the keeper of the family lore.
