Texas Border Business
Reynaldo Guerra Garza was born in Brownsville, Texas, on July 7, 1915. He was the child of Ygnacio and Zoila Garza, emigrants from Mexico. He passed away on September 14, 2004, due to complications of pneumonia at the age of 89. He was survived by his wife, Bertha Champion Garza after 61 years of marriage, five children, twelve grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1937, and a degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1939.
He practiced law in Brownsville from 1939 until 1942. Garza proudly served his country in WWII as a part of United States Army Air Corps. He returned to his law practice from 1945 until 1961.
Reynaldo Garza was nominated to the United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, in March 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. Reynaldo became the nation’s first Mexican American federal district judge and later served as chief judge of the court from 1974 until 1979.
President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Garza to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; he was confirmed by the United States Senate in July 1979.
Garza was also the first Mexican American elected to the Brownsville School Board, and he worked with the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Biography by Norman Rozeff, Handbook of Texas Online
Published by the Texas State Historical Association
