Background
Garcia Padilla was born in Ponce and raised in the nearby town of Coamo.
Garcia Padilla was born in Ponce and raised in the nearby town of Coamo.
He served as the president of University of Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2009. García Padilla received his undergraduate degree in 1974 and his law degree in 1978 from the University of Puerto Rico and an Master of Laws from Yale Law School in 1981. He has served as law clerk first to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and then on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
He was then Assistant Professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, later serving as Associate Dean of the Law School in 1983 and Dean in 1986.
In 1999, he was elected to the Council of The American Law Institute. He served as president of the University of Puerto Rico.
He assumed the presidency on November 25, 2001, and resigned on September 30, 2009.