Raphael Garcia

Raphael Rene Garcia, age 39, passed away November 10th, 2023. Raphael is survived by his parents, Raul (Roy) Garcia and Leticia de la Vega; stepmother, Patricia Garcia; older brother, Adrian Garcia and sister-in-law, Jennifer Zerbe, and nephew, Logan Zerbe. He was preceded in death by his older sister, Celeste Garcia; Paternal grandparents, Raul and Velia Minjares Garcia; and Maternal grandparents, Alejandro and Julieta Montes de la Vega.

He attended Saint Pius X High School from 1998 to 2001, and graduated from Cibola High School in 2002.

Raphael was a wonderful, inherently kind and loving young man with an infectious laugh. He was extremely intelligent and inquisitive, graduating cum laude from the University of New Mexico in 2009 with a BS degree in Biology. His love for learning never ceased and he continued to take courses periodically at UNM in psychology, physics, mathematics, and engineering, and was most recently pursuing a master's degree in optical engineering. He was also proudly working on his own website that fundamentally sought support for personal initiatives to improve the world through science.

A mass will be held in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday, November 29th, 2023 at 10:00 am at St. Raphael Parish.