Campus Mourns Phil Lopez

Phil Lopez

On the evening of December 14, Southwestern College lost one of its most visible icons. Philip Lopez, English professor and longtime union crusader, died of a sudden, massive heart attack minutes after being admitted to Sharp Hospital in Chula Vista. It was the day before his 65th birthday.

By all accounts his death was unexpected. He had spent the afternoon in what were described as successful negotiations between the faculty union and the college administration.

Kathleen Canney Lopez, professor of computer information systems who describes herself as “Phil’s former wife and his comrade,” said Lopez sat down at his Chula Vista home with a stack of paperwork. Feeling chest pains, he took aspirin and called 911. It took only minutes for the paramedics to arrive. He was rushed into the hospital and died there less than two minutes later.

“It was quick,” Canney Lopez said. “It was painless.”

Campus Mourns Professor

*Article by Albert Fulcher and Nickolas Furr; Photos by Nickolas Furr and Pablo Gandara Giza

Axa Negron-Schnorr / Photo: Furr

Michael Schnorr’s world-famous murals in Chicano Park tower over the small but revered piece of tierra santa that was once the epicenter of the Chicano Rights Movement and is the globe’s greatest outdoor Latino art gallery. His ambitious Dia de Los Muertos pieces span hundreds of yards of the Tijuana side of the border fence, warning would-be crossers that el norte can be peligroso for migrants.

Not bad for an Anglo man and Muslim convert.

America’s burgeoning border art community lost a visionary pioneer in July when Schnorr jumped from the same Coronado Bridge that features his stunning murals. His suicide shocked and saddened legions of admirers, including hundreds at Chicano Park who gathered for an emotional memorial. Schnorr had recently retired as a Southwestern art professor after 39 years.

Bob Filner / Photo: Furr

Art major David Bonafede said he was devastated by the news of Schnorr’s death and that Schnorr remains a teacher, mentor and friend in his heart.

“No matter how hard or how easy you think something is, he always made you look at things from a different perspective,” he said. “He never let you quit and he always made you finish.”

Bonafede said he did a biography on Schnorr for his art history class and came to know his mentor well. He said he loved not only his art, but also his sense of humor.

Writing Center Mourns Loss of Talented Tutor Crystal Veytia

Crystal Veytia

Crystal Veytia was living the life she wanted when she boarded a Moscow train to her teaching job one final time. Happy and upbeat as she headed to work, Veytia, 28, experienced a sudden cardiac arrest and died. The Moscow Metro operator stopped the train to let paramedics board, but it was too late.

From 2005 until 2011 Veytia was an institution at the SWC Writing Center and a tutor known for her easy rapport with fellow students, her big laugh and her insistence on spending as much time with each student as she could. After the Chula Vista resident earned her bachelor’s degree in English at SDSU, she decided to go abroad to teach.

Andrew Rempt, professor of English and director of the Academic Success Center, said she had not originally planned to teach in Russia.

“She was going to teach English in Japan, which is a lovely idea,” he said. “Then she got to LAX the day of the March 2011 earthquake. She was ready to get on the plane but was told, ‘No. The flight’s canceled. There’s a massive earthquake and tsunami there.’”

It could have been much worse, said Laura Brooks, Veytia’s close friend and fellow SWC tutor. It might have been, had she not had a history of being chronically tardy.