Omar Gallardo’s youngest sister remembers teasing her brother about the way friends and acquaintances talked about him — like he walked on water, basically.

She says Gallardo’s siblings were so much in his shadow that they joked that they had no identities of their own but were just “Omar’s sisters” to most of the community.

But Merlinda Gallardo said she understands and appreciates the important role her brother played in Sonoma County and in the lives of those around him. He was, she said, “larger than life.”

A proud Chicano and community organizer whose legacy of political and community advocacy spanned three decades, Omar Gallardo lived to support others and give voice to those unable to speak for themselves, she said.

From his time as a young man organizing Latino students, to his work with farmworkers and Latino children, to his service at the Graton Day Labor Center and, more recently, the environmental conservation and education nonprofit LandPaths, Gallardo has lived in service. He was impressed by his mentors with the idea that each generation gave way to the next and had an obligation to “keep a foot in that door so it stays open,” he once said.

Since his death last week at the age of 49, the outpouring of gratitude from the legions whose lives he touched only underscores his impact, Merlinda Gallardo said.

“People on Sunday after his services kept saying, ‘Thank you for sharing Omar with us,'” she said. “He set out to be a part of as many people’s lives as he could.”

Warm and funny, he had “a huge heart” and a “super tender, sweet” side, those who loved him said. He is survived by two boys, Tandee, 13, and Erandi, 8, who were instrumental in his life with his wife, Norma Lazaro Hernandez.

Gallardo was born in Michoacan, Mexico in 1975, the first of five children and the only boy. He spent his early years there, although his father worked most of the time in the lumber industry in Northern California.

From age 5 to 10, Gallardo and his family lived in Santa Rosa, a difficult time defined in part by an accident that disabled his father and left him increasingly unable to work.

Gallardo was 10 when his family moved back to Michoacan for five years before returning permanently to Sonoma County, where his mother worked in vineyards and wineries.

As a student at Geyserville High School, he benefited from a number of influential Spanish-speaking teachers and staff who encouraged his participation in Ballet Folkorico and helped shape his interest in Chicano education and culture.

He came of age at a time of political conflict that included the campaign for California’s Proposition 187, which in 1994 threatened to bar undocumented immigrants in California from using a number of public benefits.

Gallardo led student marches protesting the proposal and was also active on behalf of the United Farmworkers Union, providing translation services as a young man. He also made a last-minute trip to Delano, California, in 1993 for the memorial march honoring UFW leader Cesar Chavez, an event that drew an estimated 35,000 supporters.

He attended the Adelante Summer Program at Santa Rosa Junior College and the Sonoma State Latino Student Congress for several years and eventually attended both institutions, earning a degree in history with plans to become a teacher.

But Gallardo also had the opportunity to serve for eight years in the California Mini-Corps Program, working with migrant students in outdoor education, which included week-long summer camps.

It was a harbinger of his final years with LandPaths, where he worked for 12 years, most recently as the new audience manager. He was integral to the development of community gardens and Bayer Farm Urban Park in southwest Santa Rosa, and has worked extensively to engage Spanish-speaking communities in the outdoors through youth programs, Yosemite camping trips, and other programs.

LandPaths chief executive Craig Anderson says Gallardo brought dignity to the work “but left a lot of room around him for other people to feel dignified”. Gallardo was so busy that he once almost missed going to the Obama White House for a screening of a documentary he was in because he had to lead a trip to Yosemite. In the end, he ended up doing both, Anderson said.

“He has gently guided much of the evolution of LandPaths over the last several decades in terms of how we reach, expand and maintain the larger community,” Anderson said.

Omar Gallardo/ Sonoma County Chicano Timeline (Part 1)

Gallardo also spent four years counseling students in Santa Cruz County before returning to Santa Rosa to become a coordinator and organizer at the Graton Day Labor Center. He worked there for five years before being recruited to LandPaths.

Longtime community organizer and close friend Davin Cardenas, now director of organizing at North Bay Jobs with Justice, describes Gallardo as “a critical bridge” between generations of Latino activists.

He recalled meeting Gallardo at Sonoma State University around 1999, when Gallardo was president of the campus’ Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or MEChA, program. Gallardo, he said, welcomed and hired him in a way that set the trajectory of his life.

“He led by example and had such an energy that was contagious, and you wanted to be a part of what he was a part of,” Cardenas said. “I learned from him and he was always a teacher. I am one of the many, many, many who have had the same story. We are truly grateful to him.”

Gallardo was also a devoted Aztec dancer, founding his own dance group, Danza Azteca Xántotl de Santa Rosa, more than a decade ago and performing at gatherings and celebrations.

Three years ago, Gallardo learned he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a degenerative motor neuron disease that made it difficult for him to do many of the things he loved. It was a battle he and his wife kept mostly private.

He died on October 23 of complications from the disease.

Merlinda Gallardo said loved ones now like to think of him walking through the woods, through the fog, as he is in a photo taken by a friend several years ago.

In addition to his wife and children, Gallardo is survived by his mother, Maria Luisa Gallardo of Santa Rosa; sisters Marilu Gallardo, Olga Gallardo and Blanca Gallardo, all of Santa Rosa, and Merlinda Gallardo, of Windsor.

A private service was held Sunday, but the family hopes to hold a public celebration of Gallardo’s life in November.

You can contact writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @MaryCallahanB.