Luisa "Piti" Gándara Menéndez is a Puerto Rican politician and wife of former

Governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico ( es, gobernador de Puerto Rico) is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and commander-in-chief of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The governor has a duty ...

Aníbal Acevedo Vilá Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá (born 13 February 1962) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. He served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus (LL.M. 1987) and a graduate of the University of Puer ...

. As Acevedo Vilá's wife, Gándara served as

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

from 2005 to 2009. In 2013, Gándara was elected by the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) to fill the vacancy left by

Jorge Colberg Toro Jorge Colberg Toro (born October 7, 1965) is a Puerto Rican politician, a former Member of the House of Representatives and a College Professor. He served as a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives from 2003 to 2013. He also was Sec ...

as representative

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

in the 29th House of Representatives.

Early years and studies

Gándara studied first at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

, and then completed a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

Professional career

Gándara worked as a high school teacher and as an executive at a multinational information technology firm.

Political career

First Lady: 2005-2009

Following the tradition of previous Puerto Rico First Ladies, Gándara refrained from holding a remunerative job while a resident of

La Fortaleza La Fortaleza (lit., "The Fortress" ) is the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico. It was built between 1533 and 1540 to defend the harbor of San Juan. The structure is also known as Palacio de Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine's Pala ...

. As First Lady, she dedicated much of her attention to educational issues. She developed two reading programs: ''Lee y Sueña'' and ''Rincón de la Lectura''. The first managed to donate 60,000 books to children, while the second sparked the creation of 50 reading centers around the island. The programs received national recognition, including an Innovations Award from the

Council of State Governments The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization in the United States that serves all three branches of state government. Founded in 1933 by Colorado state Sen. Henry W. Toll, CSG is a region-based forum that ...

, and an award from the Ibero-American Council in Honor of Educational Quality. Active in her husband's successful Congressional campaign in 2000 and his campaign for governor in 2004, Gándara was heavily involved in his reelection bid in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and supported him during a federal trial against him.

Representative aspirations: 2013

In March 2013, Gándara presented her candidacy to fill a vacant slot at the

House of Representatives of Puerto Rico The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral state legislature (United States), territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. ...

. She was elected during an internal election within the party on March 13, 2013.

Personal life

Gándara and Acevedo Vilá have two children: Gabriela, a

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

student, and Juan Carlos, a student at the

. In 2011, Gándara confirmed she had been diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

Awards and recognitions

State Innovations Award - for a reading program that she developed as First Lady * Premio Iberoamericano Excelencia Academica 2008 (in

Guayaquil, Ecuador , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

) for promoting early childhood Education Program
NGA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandara, Luisa Year of birth missing (living people) First ladies and gentlemen of Puerto Rico Living people Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Popular Democratic Party members of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Puerto Rican Roman Catholics Puerto Rican women in politics University of Florida alumni University of Puerto Rico alumni Women educators