Swift clapping and cheering echoed across a gallery in Palm Beach during a private unveiling of the painting of Dr. Joaquín García, a beloved Hispanic community leader and outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Dressed in a modern black suit and red tie, the portrait inside the Haven Palm Beach gallery captures the late businessman’s contagious smile and charisma, say those who knew him.
The one-time-showing was a brief peek into what students will see in the halls of Dr. Joaquín García High School in Lake Worth Beach, the county’s first new high school in 20 years and the first to be named after a Hispanic leader.
The public school is using art to celebrate their namesake — an openly gay businessman, community leader and education advocate. He died in November 2021 at age 65.
“I think it's really important for the kids who go to that school to put a face behind the name,” said classically trained French painter Laurent Dareau, who is based West Palm Beach. He told WLRN his painting is a more "artsy" way of honoring Dr. García's legacy on campus.
"The smile he has on his face on that painting — it's about giving. It's about loving. It's about selflessness,” Dareau said. "It's about thinking who am I if I'm not someone to the others."
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Dr. García was a medical doctor. He was born in Cuba in 1956, lived in Spain, and studied in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo. When he immigrated to the U.S., he entrenched himself in civic and educational causes.
He was co-founder of the Hispanic Education Coalition of Palm Beach County, fighting for representation in the education sector and was a strong proponent for dual-language programs and other resources. Among many leadership roles, he worked alongside the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County, and advocated for LGBTQ+ rights as an original board member of the non-profit Compass Community Center in Lake Worth Beach.
And for many years, Dr. García and Xavier García — his romantic and business partner— ran the popular El Cid Animal Clinic in West Palm Beach.
"I cannot be any more proud and grateful,” said Xavier García, of the painting and family support behind it.
The power of art
Dareau, the painter, was a frequent patient of the animal clinic. He brought the idea of dedicating a portrait to the school through a mutual friend, Carmen García, who had known Dr. García for more than 10 years. The two were not related.
Carmen Garcia, former Executive Director of the non-profit Riviera Beach Community Outreach, said Dr. García’s philosophy about the future, his emphasis on cultural representation and education, had always stretched beyond his medical work.
"And his big thing was, 'I don't have any children of my own, but all the children in the Palm Beach County school district are my children,” Carmen García told WLRN. "He will always be in my heart as someone who was a giver."
Oscar Otero, who like Dr. García is Cuban, is the high school’s first principal. He had worked closely with him and considered him an inspiration.
Otero, a Palm Beach County educator for nearly 30 years, said Dr. García took pride in helping self-doubting students "find themselves through education, opening doors, and opening possibilities.”
The painting is “not only about García, it's really about students," Otero said. "It's about creating that sense of empowerment, that sense of having a dream and really fulfilling it.”
Otero said the painting could serve as a daily reminder of excellence for generations of students from all cultural backgrounds walking through the school's hallway and who could spark cross-cultural conversations amongst each other.
Hispanics make up nearly 40% of the school district’s 189,000 students. And the enrollment at the high school, located in the western part of Lake Worth Beach, is about half Hispanic.
"I think that for students who are Hispanic or maybe coming from other places, being able to see someone that looks like them gives them a little pause to stop and reflect and think 'how did he get to have a school named after him?” Otero said.
"And for non-minority students as well — really just to understand that our communities are evolving," he said. "Everybody really has to come together and that sense of synergy to create a future not just in Palm Beach County but beyond.”
No date has been set yet for the unveiling of the painting portrait on the school campus.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Michael Barnett told WLRN "children of all ages need to know about the great things that this man has accomplished for them."
Barnett, who represents county's District 3, which includes Lake Worth, supported the unveiling on behalf of people who have children that are zoned for Dr. Joaquin García's high school, which lies just outside his district.
"It's about the paths that he's paved for them to become great leaders themselves," he said.
