Skip to main content

Long Beach Mayor Loses Stepfather To COVID-19 One Day After Mother's Memorial

Long Beach Mayor Rick Garcia with his mother and stepfather, Gaby and Greg O'Donnell
Long Beach Mayor Rick Garcia in undated photo with his mother and stepfather. Both parents died due to complications of COVID-19 | Rick Garcia
Support Provided By

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia announced today that his stepfather died due to complications from COVID-19, one day after the family held a memorial service for the mayor's mother. "We are incredibly saddened to share that my stepfather, Greg O'Donnell, has passed away due to complications from COVID-19,'' Garcia said in a statement. "It's a heartbreaking loss for our entire family, especially for my brother Jake.''

O'Donnell, who died Sunday at 58, "was a kind and good-hearted man, an amazing father and grandfather, and the best husband our mom could have ever hoped for. He worked hard for his family and started his own successful small business as a contractor with his brothers,'' Garcia said. Garcia's mother, Gaby O'Donnell, a longtime health care worker, died late last month due to complications from the coronavirus at the age of 61. The couple had been married for 27 years.

The mayor and his brother thanked the nurses and doctors who cared for O'Donnell, and Garcia shared a post by his sibling. "As my family is just broken with the loss of my parents -- I find comfort in knowing that they are together again -- free of any pain or suffering,'' Jake posted.

Garcia announced in July that his mother and stepfather had been hospitalized with COVID-19 and placed on ventilators. Garcia has tested negative, saying he had limited contact with his mother and stepfather during the pandemic due to social-distancing requirements. "My brother and I are heartbroken,'' Garcia said in a statement following his mother's death. "Our mother was the kindest and mostcompassionate person we've ever known. She immigrated from Peru to the United States in search of the American Dream, and she found it. She became a healthcare worker, caring for thousands of patients over her career and assisting nurses and doctors who she loved dearly. She loved to help people and lived a happy and joyous life.''

Support Provided By
Read More
Nurse Yvonne Yaory checks on a coronavirus patient who is connected to a ventilator. | Heidi de Marco/California Healthline

No More ICU Beds at the Main Public Hospital in the Nation’s Largest County as COVID Surges

As COVID patients have flooded into LAC+USC in recent weeks, they’ve put an immense strain on its ICU capacity and staff — especially since non-COVID patients, with gunshot wounds, drug overdoses, heart attacks and strokes, also need intensive care.
Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Your No-Panic Guide to the COVID-19 Vaccine: Is It Safe, and When Can I Get It?

Here's what we know about the COVID-19 vaccines and how they are being distributed in L.A. County.
Nurse Michael Lowman gets the first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from nurse practitioner Christie Aiello at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, CA, on Dec. 16, 2020. | Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty

Orange County Gets First Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

A Providence St. Joseph Hospital nurse was the first person in Orange County today to be vaccinated for COVID-19, shortly followed by other health care workers.