24-07-2025
‘He shaped the futures of millions of students.' G. Holmes Braddock dies at 100
G. Holmes Braddock, who chaired the Miami-Dade County School Board for 38 years during some of South Florida's most tumultuous times, died Thursday — one day after turning 100 years old.
He missed a planned 'big birthday bash' Saturday that was to be held by his family at the Kendall school that carries his name, G. Holmes Braddock Senior High, his friend Lewis Matusow said.
'A gentleman like you can't believe,' Matusow said. 'You couldn't want to meet a better human.'
Braddock served on the School Board from 1962 to 1996. As chair during the 1969-1970 school year, he championed the district's efforts to desegregate schools. Over the decades, Braddock championed bilingual education in schools, collective bargaining for public school employees and promoting the school volunteer program.
He championed citizen input into the athletic programs and the inclusion of a student representative on the School Board, according to his namesake school.
'My entire educational career in Miami-Dade was one where Holmes was a sage advisor, a confidant, a friend, a funny character with a memory the likes of which I have never, ever seen since,' said former Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho from his office at the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he is now superintendent.
'Look, he lived a century in service to others, but I really believe his greatest legacy isn't just in the years that he lived. It's in the futures that he shaped,' said Carvalho, who served as Miami-Dade's school superintendent from 2008 to 2022. 'He literally shaped the futures of millions of students who, today, are adults in our community and beyond. He was a champion for education, a champion for equity excellence. He really served in a way that reminded us all that public service is still the highest form of leadership.'
Like his beloved alma mater, the University of Miami, where he enrolled in 1946 to seek a journalism degree, fresh out of serving aboard a medic ship during World War II, Braddock and the school both celebrated their centennials in 2025.
Braddock held season tickets to Canes football games since 1946 and missed just a handful of games.
'I became a student and formed a lifetime romance with the University of Miami and the Hurricane Football Team,' he told the Herald in 2024, while pumping his fist in the air as he became one of only 11 recipients of UM's President's Distinguished Service Award from the UMiami's Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
This obituary will be updated.
