Jaime Escalante

Birth Name:
Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez
Birth Date:
December 31, 1930
Birth Place:
La Paz, Bolivia
Death Date:
March 30, 2010
Place of Death:
Roseville, California
Age:
79
Cause of Death:
Bladder cancer
Cemetery Name:
Rose Hills Memorial Park
Claim to Fame:
Science
Jaime Escalante became famous for his work with troubled, "unteachable" high school math students. Escalante was an educator who was born in Bolivia and came to the United States in the 1960s to seek a better life. He began teaching math to troubled students in a violent Los Angeles school and became famous for leading many of them to pass the advanced placement calculus test. In 1991, the number of Garfield students taking advanced placement examinations in math and other subjects jumped to 570 with many of them going on to selective universities including the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) He was played by Edward James Olmos in the 1988 film Stand and Deliver.

Fun Fact

Due to academic infighting and petty jealousy, Escalante left Garfield High School at the height of his success and Angelo Villavicencio took over the program after Escalante’s departure, teaching the remaining 107 AP students in two classes over the following year. Sixty-seven of Villavicencio’s students went on to take the AP exam and forty-seven passed. The math program’s decline at Garfield became apparent following the departure of Escalante and other teachers associated with its inception and development. In just a few years, the number of AP calculus students at Garfield who passed their exams dropped by more than 80%. In 1996, Villavicencio contacted Garfield’s new principal, Tony Garcia, and offered to come back to help revive the dying calculus program. His offer was rejected.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Rose Hills Memorial Park

3888 Workman Mill Road

Whittier, California, 90601

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California
Map of Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California

Grave Location:

Lakeside Gardens, Section 18, Lot 3914, Grave 3

Grave Location Description

Make your way to the Rose Hills Cemetery Flower Shop just inside Gate 1 near the intersection of Workman Mill Road and Rose Hills Road. As you enter the cemetery turn left and curve around and turn right at the first chance and drive 200 feet and stop. Walk towards the lake to your right and the former educator can be found about 50 feet from the lake shore.

Grave Location GPS

34.0131156841, -118.049315333

Photos:

[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]

Read More About Jaime Escalante:

Videos Featuring Jaime Escalante:
Making a Difference: Jaime Escalante
Garfield High School pays tribute to Jaime Escalante
High Expectations & Jaime Escalante
East LA native, who was Jaime Escalante's student, playing integral part in Mars mission
Jaime Escalante On Being A Teacher
Stand and Deliver (1988) - Finger Man Scene

See More:

John von Neumann

popular name: John von Neumann

date_of_death: February 8, 1957

age: 53

cause_of_death: Bone cancer (disputed)

claim_to_fame: Science

best_know_for: John von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. Von Neumann was regarded as perhaps the mathematician with the widest coverage of the subject in his time and was said to have been "the last representative of the great mathematicians who were equally at home in pure and applied mathematics". Von Neumann's academic career was filled with awards and honors. He was a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Academiz Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Peru; Acamedia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy; National Academy of Sciences; Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Letters; Information Processing Hall of Fame; and held numerous honorary degrees. Described as the scientific genius who pioneered the modern computer, game theory, nuclear deterrence, and more, John von Neumann illuminated the fields of pure and applied mathematics, computer science, physics, and economics. In the end, it would be supremely difficult to effectively refute the claim that John von Neumann is likely the most intelligent person who has ever lived. By the time of his death in 1957 at the modest age of 53, the Hungarian polymath had not only revolutionized several subfields of mathematics and physics but also made foundational contributions to pure economics and statistics and taken key parts in the invention of the atomic bomb, nuclear energy and digital computing.

Edwin H. Land

popular name: Edwin H. Land

date_of_death: March 1, 1991

age: 81

cause_of_death: Undisclosed

claim_to_fame: Science

best_know_for: Edwin H. Land was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation and the inventor of instant photography. “Dr. Land,’’ as most people referred to him, left Harvard College before graduation to start inventing in a Cambridge garage. In 40 years, Land built up a company that did about $1.4 billion of business all over the world in 1979 with over 20,000 employees. He stuck to his guns, never diversified into other businesses, never sold out to another company, and never borrowed money on a long-term basis. Land was awarded more than 500 patents, and other Polaroid researchers hundreds more. The Polaroid company was a juggernaut of innovation. In modern terms, Polaroid was the Apple of its time with a brilliant leader in Edwin Land, a scientist who guided the company as the CEO for several decades. But the company suffered a long decline starting in the ’80s leading to bankruptcy in the 2000s.

Christa McAuliffe

popular name: Christa McAuliffe

date_of_death: January 28, 1986

age: 37

cause_of_death: Space shuttle accident

claim_to_fame: Science

best_know_for: Christa McAuliffe was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who was killed on the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L where she was serving as a payload specialist. On January 28, 1986, McAuliffe boarded Challenger with the other six crew members of STS-51-L. Seventy-three seconds into its flight at an altitude of 48,000 ft (14.630 km), the shuttle broke apart, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. According to NASA, it was in part because of the excitement over her presence on the shuttle that the accident had such a significant effect on the nation. Many schoolchildren were viewing the launch live, and media coverage of the accident was extensive.

Back to Top