Photo Courtesy to Joseph Moran

"On behalf of NALIP, our condolences to friends, family and colleagues of Lisa Garcia Quiroz. She was an esteemed collaborator and supporter of inclusion and advancement of media, it was a privilege to have known her and worked with her, she will be truly missed." - Ben Lopez, NALIP Executive Director 

Lisa Garcia Quiroz was a longtime supporter of NALIP in many efforts and in 2016 she received the NALIP Media Advancement award on behalf of The Time Warner Foundation for their efforts in advancing Latinos in media. With the generous support of Time Warner Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts, NALIP put forth The Latino Lens: Narrative Shorts Incubator in 2015 and with the continued support of Time Warner Foundation NALIP is producing the latest Latino Lens: Narrative Shorts Incubator for 2018.

Lisa Garcia Quiroz, the founding publisher of People en Español, one of the most popular Hispanic magazines in the United States, died on Friday at her mother’s home in Denver. She was 57.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, her husband, Guy Garcia, said.

Ms. Quiroz’s career in media — first at Time Inc., where she also launched the magazine Time for Kids, and then at Time Warner, where she became the company’s first chief diversity officer — was driven by a deeply held conviction, she said.

“I feel a unique mission to give the Latino community a voice,” she told Harvard Magazine (she was a Harvard graduate), referring to her role at People en Español, a Time Inc. offshoot of People magazine. “I thought this was a great opportunity.”

Ms. Quiroz (pronounced KEE-rose) started People en Español in 1996, a time when coverage of Latino communities in the mainstream media was limited.

Earlier, a speaking engagement at her old elementary school on Staten Island inspired her to develop Time for Kids, an award-winning classroom newsmagazine that was launched in 1995.

“She had a way of finding missions and new projects that we could all get excited about and bring people together,” Jeffrey L. Bewkes, head of Time Warner, said in a telephone interview.

Later named to lead Time Warner’s diversity initiatives, Ms. Quiroz “gave diversity a business head,” said Dan Osheyack, a former Time Warner executive who worked with her for 30 years, “meaning that she helped transform the sensibility about it from the right thing to do to the smart thing to do.”

“She did that,” he added, “by pointing out the changes in audiences and the importance of developing storytellers who told stories across the spectrum of the population.”

Ms. Quiroz was simultaneously in charge of the company’s philanthropic efforts in the arts as president of the Time Warner Foundation and as senior vice president for cultural investment.

In seeking out worthy beneficiaries of the company’s largess, she took a hands-on approach, personally frequenting small theaters and arts groups throughout the metropolitan area.

“I feel like I rediscovered New York,” she told The New York Times in 2007.

Outside of Time Warner, she was a former chairwoman of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the Corporation for National and Community Service, appointed in 2014 by President Barack Obama.

Ms. Quiroz had also served on the boards of the Public Theater and the Apollo Theater Foundation in New York.

“She did that,” he added, “by pointing out the changes in audiences and the importance of developing storytellers who told stories across the spectrum of the population.”

Ms. Quiroz was simultaneously in charge of the company’s philanthropic efforts in the arts as president of the Time Warner Foundation and as senior vice president for cultural investment.

In seeking out worthy beneficiaries of the company’s largess, she took a hands-on approach, personally frequenting small theaters and arts groups throughout the metropolitan area.

“I feel like I rediscovered New York,” she told The New York Times in 2007.

Outside of Time Warner, she was a former chairwoman of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the Corporation for National and Community Service, appointed in 2014 by President Barack Obama.

Ms. Quiroz had also served on the boards of the Public Theater and the Apollo Theater Foundation in New York.

Read more at NewYorkTimes.com