Former Morgan Hill Unified School District Trustee David Gerard died March 3 after a nine-year battle with cancer, according to his family.
Gerard was elected to the MHUSD school board in 2014 and served one four-year term. He spent most of his career as an organizational psychologist and consultant, says an obituary submitted by his son, Pierre Gerard.
Pierre said as his father raised him and his brother, Justin, in Morgan Hill, they enjoyed many of the community’s iconic pastimes as a family. These include Pony Baseball, an annual hike (since discontinued) up El Toro Mountain with the Historical Society, and volunteering at the Morgan Hill Freedom Fest.
“We watched the July Fourth fireworks and ate churros at the Morgan Hill Community Park,” Pierre Garard said. “We walked through the Mushroom Mardi Gras, heard music at the Friday Night Music Series, and visited the Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Park every Halloween. My brother and I were lucky to have experienced Morgan Hill through my dad, and I know that David loved living there in sometimes wordless ways.”
David Gerard died at the age of 70. He passed away peacefully with his wife, Miho, and sons by his side at Stanford University, according to the submitted obituary.
Gerard was born in Connecticut in 1950. He earned his Bachelor’s degree with high honors from the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University. He earned his Ph.D. and Master’s in Social-Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute, and a degree in Psychology and Education from the University of Strasbourg.
From 2016 to 2020, Gerard represented California’s 19th Congressional District as a delegate for former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, says his obituary.
In his later years, Gerard was an active member of the Santa Cruz Friends Meeting.
“David loved baseball, travel, politics and the life of the mind,” says the obituary.
