Gary Kovacic was born in Pasadena in 1951 and moved to Arcadia when he was six weeks old. He has lived in Arcadia ever since (except for his college years at UCLA). Gary attended Santa Anita Elementary School, Dana Junior High School, and Arcadia High School (Class of 1969). He played baseball at Arcadia National Little League, was a delivery boy for Barron’s Pharmacy in West Arcadia, and spent five summers as a day camp counselor for the Arcadia Recreation Department at Wilderness Park.
From 1996 to 2006, Gary was a member of the Arcadia City Council, serving three full terms as Mayor (1998-99, 2000-01, and 2004-05) and also serving as one of the Centennial Mayors in 2003. In April 2008 Gary was elected to the City Council after taking a two-year term limit “time out." Prior to serving on the City Council, Gary was a two-term member of the Arcadia Planning Commission and chaired the Santa Anita Village Architectural Review Board for seven years.
During his prior ten-year tenure on the Arcadia City Council, the city built a new police station, historical museum, and skate board park; modernized the public library; and approved plans for a new fire department headquarters. Gary also played a leading role in creating the annual Mayor’s Bike Ride and Law Day events, beautifying the Peacock Fountain at Arcadia County Park, placing a Community Tile Tapestry on the library’s exterior wall, holding three town forums, establishing city-wide residential design review, and promoting a strong city council-school board alliance. In 2003, Gary edited and published “Visions of Arcadia: A Centennial Anthology,” a collection of 130 essays and over 90 historic photographs about life in Arcadia. The 363-page hardcover book was unveiled on August 5, 2003, the city’s 100th birthday.
Gary’s other community activities have included service on Methodist Hospital’s Bio-ethics Committee, Congressman David Dreier’s Military Academy Nominations Panel, and the boards of the Arcadia Educational Foundation, Foothill Unity Center, and Arcadia Historical Society. Since 1995, Gary has been a volunteer coach of Arcadia High School’s award-winning Constitution Team. He is also an active member of Arcadia’s Church of the Good Shepherd.
Gary’s past awards include being named Arcadia’s 2006 Citizen of the Year, the Lucky Baldwin District (Boys Scouts of America) Distinguished Citizen Award, the Chinese American Education Association Distinguished Service Award, the Arcadia Chinese Association City Service Award, and the AUSD “Golden Apple” Award.
In 2006, Gary chaired citizen campaign committees for Measure A ($8 million bond measure for a Gold Line grade separation at Santa Anita Avenue) and Measure I ($218 million bond measure to improve Arcadia schools). Both Arcadia bond measures passed with over two-thirds of the vote.
Gary is a partner in the downtown Los Angeles law firm of Sullivan, Workman & Dee, LLP. Since 1976, he has concentrated his law practice in the area of representing property and business owners in eminent domain, land use, and zoning matters.
Gary lives in the Village area of Arcadia with his wife Barb. Barb helps senior citizens with their daily money management issues. Their daughter Kelly teaches Advanced Placement U. S. History to inner-city high school students at the Pruess School on the University of California, San Diego campus. She is the 2010 California Teacher of the Year and was selected as one of four finalists for 2010 National Teacher of the Year. Their son Casey is a public defender in Portland, Oregon.
Besides family and friends, Gary’s extracurricular passions include cycling, UCLA athletics, trout fishing, writing, and Yosemite.
E-mail Mr. Kovacic at: gkovacic@swdlaw.net
