A small, green glass bottle filled with sand from a beach at Normandy is perched on Professor Fernando Torres-Gil’s desk in the Public Affairs building.
The keepsake serves as a constant reminder of the people he served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary on Aging, a position in which he helped promote the importance of issues involving aging, disabilities and the elderly. Helping World War II veterans parachute from a restored war plane onto the Normandy beach in France in a reenactment of D-Day was a standout moment of his career. He said the veterans gave him the bottle of sand in thanks.
“(They wanted) to honor all the men that did not survive, to honor all the men and women currently serving, and to show that at any age you can do great things,” he said. Their willingness to not be restricted by their age or disabilities struck home with Torres-Gil.
Torres-Gil is 65 years old, living with polio and has been working inaging and disability policy for almost 40 years.
Now a professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Torres-Gil will be awarded the John Gardner Legacy of Leadership Award in Washington, D.C. on Friday.
The award honors individuals with continued commitment to public service and leadership after leaving the White House Fellows program, which gives its members an intensive yearlong experience working directly with cabinet secretaries and White House staff. Torres-Gil, a former chair of UCLA’s Social Welfare department and director of the university’s Center for Policy Research on Aging, was nominated for the award by his former classmates in the White House Fellows program.
Torres-Gil was one of the most well-liked people from his year because of his good nature, humility and commitment to public service, said Teresa Schwartz, one of his peers in the program who is currently a professor at The George Washington University Law School. She, along with three other members of their year, nominated Torres-Gil for the award.
Torres-Gil was born in Salinas, California in the late 1940s, the second of nine children.
Torres-Gil said he was inspired from an early age by his mother, who raised her children as a single parent and took a strong interest in her community, by organizing tenants and working with the housing authority.
“Our mother always taught (us that) you don’t accept something without giving back,” Torres-Gil said. “The concepts of reciprocity and personal responsibility stayed with me.”
As a baby, he was paralyzed with polio. By the time he was two years old, Torres-Gil was spending three- to nine-month stints in the hospital. He underwent multiple reconstructive surgeries to give him greater mobility.
These experiences made him sensitive and committed to helping people get better access to medical aid. Because of the health care and welfare systems in place at the time, his low-income family was able to afford his polio surgeries, he said.
The treatments worked – today, Torres-Gil can walk with crutches.
“My single greatest break was that I went through all of this at a young age, because it taught me the importance of facing adversity with a positive attitude,” he said.
Motivated by his childhood experiences, Torres-Gil launched a career in policy issues related to aging, disabilities and diversity. He said he was fascinated that more people were living longer, and that minority populations in the United States were increasing.
Two years after he got his doctorate, Torres-Gil was selected as one of 15 people from across the country to participate in the White House Fellows program, where he spent a year working on issues involving health.
After the program was over, he was recruited to work for President Jimmy Carter’s administration, and has since worked under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama about issues dealing with aging and disability.
Torres-Gil said the award was so meaningful because of his respect for the people who nominated and selected him and because of his lifetime of work in aging and disability policy.
“It’s from my peers, the people I respect the most … they’re a pretty cynical, pragmatic bunch. They don’t do it to pat you on the head,” he said.
Carolyn Chin, the CEO of two health care-related companies and a consulting and investment firm, was a member of the White House Fellows class with Torres-Gil.
When she had to go through dialysis sessions, she said he was the only person who sat with her through an entire treatment session, just to keep her company.
The care he shows to friends extends into his work life. Torres-Gilsaid he is driven to continue his work because of his passion for aging and disability policy.
The progressive nature of polio also plays a role in his continued work, he said. Research has found that polio survivors begin to face a decline as they reach their sixties, but Torres-Gil still has an optimistic outlook.
“I tease the family and the kids, at some point I’ll be in my wheelchair or my scooter on the Ventura pier, feeding pigeons,” he said with a laugh.
For now, he plans to continue his work at UCLA and advocate for policies involving aging and disability.