Robert Garcin, former Glendale mayor and city councilman, dies at 86
Former Glendale City Councilman, two-time mayor and retired lawyer Robert Garcin, who served when the Glendale Galleria first opened its doors, has died. He was 86.
Born in Boston, Mass. on Dec. 18, 1928, Garcin moved to Glendale in the early 1930s during the Great Depression.
At 13, Garcin was a member of Night Checks, a group of civilians during World War II who helped patrol the night skies for Japanese bombers.
He graduated from La Conte Junior High and Hollywood High. He began attending law school at the University of Southern California in 1955, but shortly thereafter joined the Navy and spent 19 years in active and reserve duty.
He eventually retired as Lt. Commander of the USS Weeden. In 1955, he returned to law school and graduated in 1958, when he then joined the Los Angeles County Counsel’s office and later the Hollywood law firm of Irsfeld, Irsfeld & Younger.
Garcin was first elected to the Glendale City Council in 1975 and served as mayor twice, in 1978 and 1982. He last served on the council in 1983.
His fellow partner at Irsfeld, Irsfeld & Younger, Peter Wright, also worked for a few years at Glendale City Hall as senior assistant city attorney while Garcin was a councilman.
They later worked together at Irsfeld, Irsfeld & Younger for about a decade.
Wright said he places Garcin in the unique class of post-World War II lawyers because they were of a different kind.
“They were very confident, very professional. They did their work well and Bob was that way. He was a very charismatic person,” Wright said.
Garcin also liked to mentor younger attorneys and enjoyed writing articles for law journals.
He served as chairman of the city’s Board of Zoning Adjustments as well as on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority — back when it was called Hollywood-Burbank Airport and later Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport — for 18 years. It was renamed Bob Hope Airport in 2003.
After Garcin left Irsfeld, Irsfeld & Younger, he became general counsel for home builder M.J. Brock and Sons and later served as counsel for Lennar Homes until his retirement in 2009.
Garcin was an avid traveler and expert handball player, a sport he played twice a week from his youth until just three years ago.
He is survived by his wife, Misty, two sons, Cary and Tom, from his former wife, Jane, his daughters, Kimberly Bales, Leslie Bales, and granddaughters, Holly and Agnieszka.