One of Embry-Riddle’s first international students, Gonzalo “Zalo” Lopez-Garzón (’43, MC), who is also believed to have been Embry-Riddle’s oldest living alumnus, died on June 23, 2016, at the age of 101. Originally from Argentina, Lopez-Garzón attended Embry-Riddle’s Miami Campus as a recipient of the federally-funded Inter-American Aviation Training Program scholarship.
“Zalo was enrolled in Embry-Riddle during the most important years of our history. The training of international students during World War II took us from a little for-profit corporation into the university that we are today, and the people who built that foundation came from all over the world,” says Dean Emeritus Bob Rockett.
Lopez-Garzón returned to Argentina after earning a diploma in instructor mechanics. He enjoyed a successful career there teaching aeronautical instrumentation. He later moved to Miami and started his own business in interior design.
Read more about Lopez-Garzón in the fall 2015 issue of Lift.