PHOTOS: Jaime Escalante | 1930-2010
Vice President George H.W. Bush answers questions from students during a visit to Garfield High School in East
“We need to innovate, to make something attractive for these kids,” said Jaime Escalante, with Salena Sy Gip, center, and Mai Tuyen. He used pinwheels, music, even toilet paper in his teaching. (Don Preisler / For The Times)
Jaime Escalante appeared at a ceremony honoring his inclusion on the Latino Walk of Fame in April 1998. With him are Garfield High School band members Lilly Rangel, left, Guadalupe Casarez and Gonzalo Rodriguez. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
Savoring their reunion, Escalante and former student Jema Leyva pose for another Garfield math class alumnus, Armando Lopez. When he left a better-paying job to teach, “my friends said, ‘Jaime, you’re crazy.’ But I wanted to work with young people,” he told The Times. “That’s more rewarding for me than the money.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Jaime Escalante gives a motivational speech to Los Angeles-area teachers at Eastmont Intermediate School in Montebello in 1998. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
George W. Bush, then a presidential candidate, is introduced by Jaime Escalante, right, during a leadership forum at Charles E. Mack School in Sacramento in 2000. Escalante briefly considered becoming an education advisor to Bush after he was elected president. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, left, meets with Escalante. Escalante was a maverick who did not get along with many of his public school colleagues, but he mesmerized students with his entertaining style and deep understanding of math. (Joe Cavaretta / Associated Press)
Jaime Escalante, flanked by his son Jaime Jr., left, and his former teaching colleague Angelo Villavicencio, enjoy a visit at Century Wellness Clinic in Reno, where Escalante was being treated for bladder cancer. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
