Former Chapala Mayor Juan Sanchez Calzada died at his home Thursday, December 29 at the age of 79.
Sanchez was born in Chapala on January 10, 1932, the son of Josefina Calzada Ramirez and Juan Sanchez Guizar. He studied medicine at the University of Guadalajara, graduating 50 years ago with a title as surgeon-obstetrician. He worked throughout his adult life as a practicing physician up until his retirement several years ago.
During most of his medical career Sanchez ran his own private medical clinic and pharmacy. He also served a four-year stint as director of Chapala’s Centro de Salud during the period it operated as the community’s only hospital facility. In addition, he dedicated 15 years of service as the head of Chapala Red Cross clinic. He was widely admired for his selfless concern for the poor, attending to patients regardless of their ability to pay for medical services.
Following in the footsteps of his parents, who opened on of the town’s first waterfront eateries, Sanchez took over their proprietorship of Restaurant Don Juan located in the Acapulquito restaurant row. The business was managed for many years by his first wife, Edelmira Gomez, until her untimely death in an automobile accident in the 1970’s.
In 1981 the widowed Sanchez married for a second time, taking Esperanza Unzueta Diaz as his bride.
Some years later Sanchez opened the popular restaurant-bar Johny’s Place on Paseo Ramon Corona. Prior to that, he had leased that property to American Legion Post 7 as its headquarters during the mid-1970’s. Both dining establishments are still in the hands of his family.
With a keen interest in public affairs, Sanchez eventually got involved in local politics. He was elected to serve as Chapala mayor for the 1977-1979 term. He is remembered for promoting the opening of Chapala’s first secondary and preparatory schools, as well as the town’s first cultural center.
However, several public works projects carried out during his regimen stirred public controversy, among them the remodeling of the town plaza, the reconstruction and elevation of Ramon Corona and extensive street excavations related to the construction of the city’s waste water treatment plant.
Nonetheless, after leaving office Sanchez remained as a respected and often outspoken community leader for the rest of his life.
He is survived by his devoted spouse, a brother Robert, sons Jose Manuel, Mario, Arath and Juan Ubaldo, and six grandchildren. His first son, Juan Abelardo Sanchez Gomez, preceded him in death.
Family and friends gathered to bid the doctor a fond farewell at a funeral Mass held December 30 at Chapala’s San Francisco Parish.