Class Notes: 1976
Larry Lazaro Badajos – dedicated father, brother, uncle, and friend to many – passed away on December 2nd, 2022, at the age of 71 at his home in El Monte, California. Larry Badajos was born in El Centro, California, and proudly resided in El Monte, California. He graduated from Arroyo High School in El Monte, California, before attending community college at Imperial Valley College then transferred to UC Berkeley, where he studied Criminology. He then found his passion for studying law and helping others at the University of California, Los Angeles. He started working in legal aid and opened his private practice, Disability Law Clinic, in Los Angeles, California. While pursuing his passion for helping others, he loved raising his daughter, Lauren Badajos, and being a role model for others. Through the years, he dedicated his life to reinvesting in his community in El Monte and devoted his time to helping others. Over the years, he generously volunteered for Lauren’s sports teams, such as The El Monte Fillies, the All-Star teams, and the Arroyo High School cheer and softball team. He also volunteered for the City of El Monte and dedicated his time to helping the local schools Lauren and Larry attended growing up; Le Gore Elementary School, Frank Wright, and Arroyo High School. He continued to support local programs and organizations that dedicated their work towards bettering the community and their mission to invest in education and the youth.
Larry was an incredible friend and role model to countless people that knew him over the years. He found his true purpose in sharing the successes and joys, with those around him and in his community.
Larry authentically and wholeheartedly loved his family and those around him. He exemplified unconditional love, kept a strong faith through his dedication to work, and continuously helped others.
Larry never retired and worked until the week before he passed (He won his last case!). His work gave him gratification every day because he loved his job being a representative for those who needed support, assistance, and a friend. He helped countless people from different identities, backgrounds, personal experiences, and ages. He loved meeting with his clients and continued to have faith no matter the challenges he faced while representing his clients and in his own life. Larry is a virtuous man, and we will remember him for his; strength, warmth, patience, friendliness, resilience, and heart of gold.
During his time off, he enjoyed watching the Los Angeles Dodgers and Rams play. He loyally and proudly rooted for the USC football team, despite being a UCLA alum. He loved spending time with his daughter on early Sundays and watching movies or documentaries at home with fresh coffee and pancakes.
Larry was preceded in death by his parents, Petra Soria Badajos and Silvester, and his brother, Antonio (Bebop) Badajos. He is survived by his children, Lauren Badajos, and Jesse Estrada. Larry has two sisters, Chavela and Rosemary, and his brother Sylvester.
In his memory, donations can be made to his GoFundMe, which will support the family and be donated to the schools Larry attended and the church in Calexico he loved so much.
John Essick completed a 29-year career at Reed College in Portland, OR, in May 2022 when he retired as the David W. Brauer Professor of Physics. After Cal, John earned his PhD from the University of Oregon. He taught for more than 40 years, including four at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, but could not match his father’s feat: John Essick Sr. (’39), was a physics teacher at Los Angeles High School for 44 years, retiring in 1991 at age 74. In his teaching, John Jr. used many of the timeless physics examples his father used from the textbook “Modern College Physics,” by Cal Professor Harvey E. White. John and his wife, Katie, have three children and a grandson, and live in Portland.
Judith (Mauleón) Berlowitz, Ph.D. ’76, has her first novel coming out this year: a fictional diary of her relative, Klara Philipsborn, who volunteered from Germany in the Spanish Civil War as a nurse and translator. See more at judithberlowitzauthor.com.
Class Secretary: Dan Ahern, 21 Sea Wolf Passage, Corte Madera 94925
Brent Green, MPH ’76, is a former National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow. His most recent publication is “In Pursuit of Empathy: A Contribution to Social Psychiatry,” published in Psychiatric Times in October 2021.
Marc Kristal, who graduated with a bachelor’s in English, has just published his first novel, entitled Permission, from Atmosphere Press, at the tender age of 67. Nearly three decades passed between the commencement of writing and publication, and he is most sincerely hoping that the next one doesn’t take 30 years to see the light of day.
Class Secretary: Dan Ahern, 21 Sea Wolf Passage, Corte Madera 94925
