'I Remember Him With That Smile': Beloved Phoenix Doctor Dies Of COVID-19 At 99

The older generation remembers Dr. López as one of the few Spanish-speaking doctors in all of South Phoenix. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1921, he arrived in the U.S. in 1947 after a Catholic priest in Phoenix invited him to help care for low-income families in Arizona. Dr. López practiced medicine and surgery for over 60 years — even enlisting in the Arizona Army National Guard as a medical officer. He served neighborhoods in South Phoenix that once faced decades of segregation and poverty.

"People knew where they could go for help, and that was Dr. López," says former patient Abe Arvizu Jr. He can still picture the crowded waiting room inside Dr. López's office. "It was wall-to-wall — no room — and people out in the hallway waiting. And they were mostly undocumented, or farm workers, or just the poor people from the surrounding areas."