GCA's Rosalinda Plasencia, 54
Rosalinda Plasencia, longtime coordinator for the Garment Contractors Association of Southern California (GCA), died after a nearly four-year battle with cancer. She was 54.
Plasencia, along with longtime companion and GCA Executive Director Joe Rodriguez, was an unflagging advocate for Southern California’s contractor community, as well as a valuable resource for many small manufacturers in the region.
“She was not just my co-worker, she was my life partner for many, many years,” Rodriguez said. “I’m going to miss her terribly here at work and every place else.”
Plasencia’s work introduced her to many in the apparel industry, and her kind and thoughtful demeanor turned many business acquaintances into fast friends.
That was the case for apparel manufacturer Sam Kim, who, until last year was the president of the Apparel Contractors Alliance of California, the umbrella association for the GCA; the American Chinese Garment Contractors Association; the Korean American Garment Industry Association; and the Northern California Chinese Garment Contractors Association.
Kim, who owns misses denim company Makers USA, described Plasencia and Rodriguez as “two honest people that I could share anything with.” But Plasencia was also a great business ally, he said.
“It’s a big loss to our industry,” Kim said. “She was acting as a liaison to the office of the labor department for our industry. Any information I needed, I would call her. She was 411 for me.”
Plasencia was dedicated to the people in the apparel industry, said Karina Macias, vice president of MGM Apparel and GCA treasurer.
“I admired how much she believed in the people in the garment industry and how she liked doing what she did. She was always looking out for the industry,” Macias said. “Things are not going to be the same without her because she had a way of doing things that almost seemed effortless.”
Plasencia is survived by Rodriguez; her sons, Marcos and Alfonso Plasencia; and her parents, Catalina and Jose Villegas.
Services are scheduled for June 24. A rosary and funeral mass will begin at 9 a.m. at St. Denis Church in Diamond Bar, Calif., and will be followed by the interment at the Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Rowland Heights, Calif.
—Alison A. Nieder
