Luisa "Piti" Gándara was born on April 30, 1954.[1][2] Her father was a public accountant and her mother was a florist. Gándara was the youngest of five siblings. She earned her high school degree from Academia Sagrado Corazón, studied at the Faculty of Pedagogy of University of Puerto Rico, and then completed a Master's degree at the University of Florida.[3]
Professional career
Gándara worked as a high school biology teacher and as a specialist in educational technology for IBM for 17 years.
Political career
First Lady: 2005-2009
Following the tradition of previous Puerto Rico first ladies, Gándara refrained from holding a remunerative job while a resident of La Fortaleza. As First Lady, she dedicated much of her attention to educational issues. She developed two reading programs: Lee y Sueña and Rincón de la Lectura. The first donated 60,000 books to children, while the second sparked the creation of 50 reading centers around the island.[4] The programs received national recognition, including an Innovations Award from the Council of State Governments,[citation needed] and an award from the Ibero-American Council in Honor of Educational Quality.[5]
Active in her husband's successful congressional campaign in 2000[citation needed] and his campaign for governor in 2004, Gándara was heavily involved in his reelection bid in 2008 and supported him during a federal trial against him.
Representative aspirations: 2013
In March 2013, Gándara presented her candidacy to fill a vacant slot at the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico.[6] She was elected during an internal election within the party on March 13, 2013.[7]
Personal life and death
Gándara and Acevedo Vilá had two children: Gabriela, a Harvard graduate and producer in Los Angeles, California, and Juan Carlos, a University of Puerto Rico graduate and educator.
In 2011, Gándara confirmed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.[8] She died on June 14, 2023, at the age of 69.[9]
