Felipe Javier Gorostiza Arroyo, a lecturer in urban studies in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences died on April 15 from COVID-19. He was 69.

Dr. Gorostiza immigrated to the United States with his family in the early 1960s and grew up in West New York and North Bergen, New Jersey. He attended St. Joseph’s of the Palisades High School and then went on to earn a BA in Spanish and history from New York University. He graduated with an MA in Hispanic studies from Brown University and then came to Penn to earn an MA in international relations.

In 1991, while earning his PhD in city and regional planning at Penn, he began teaching in urban studies in the School of Arts and Sciences. He was hired in 1995 as a lecturer in the College of General Studies and lectured in urban studies, city planning at the Lauder Institute.

In his teaching, Dr. Gorostiza drew on his training as an historian of planning, his practical experience in the field and his acting. The department’s tribute to Dr. Gorostiza noted: “The students in his Spring 2020 Intro to Planning class told us how he ‘made the readings come alive’ in his lectures and in leading discussion.” 

Beginning in 2011, Dr. Gorostiza also served as a grant writer for the Children’s Specialized Hospital Foundation in Mountainside, New Jersey. He held a number of positions prior to coming to Penn, including adjunct professor at Columbia University in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; lecturer at Rutgers University–Camden in the public policy and administration department; and executive director for Rutgers’ Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs. He was a Community Builder Fellow for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in New York; a senior associate for Urban Partners; and principal for URBIS. He also developed and managed the Urban Land Resource Initiative for the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. 

Dr. Gorostiza was professionally involved in the theater and artistic communities. He was the literary manager for New Jersey Repertory Company from 2005 to 2006 and the development director for South Jersey Performing Arts Center from 2002 to 2004. He studied under famed actors Stella Adler, Jose Ferrer, Bobby Lewis, Madeleine Sherwood and Emanuel Azenberg, and he shared the stage with Rip Torn and Maurice Hines. He was recently nominated for a Colorado Theater Guild Henry Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Santiago in the Fine Arts Center Theatre Company’s production of “Anna in the Tropics.” In addition to a number of television appearances, Dr. Gorostiza lent his voice to feature films, TV shows and commercials, and he was a translator and voice-over narrator for HBO Sports from 2005 to 2009. He was even the voice of the Spanish-language Keebler elf and the QUALCOMM rooster.

Dr. Gorostiza is survived by his cousins, Rolando Gorostiza, Juan E. Arroyo and Ileana Cabana; and his cousins’ children, Jillian, Gabriel and Michael Gorostiza, and Liane and Brian Cabana. Urban Studies plans to host a memorial gathering in the future; information to follow.

The Children’s Specialized Hospital Foundation has set up a fund to honor his memory. Donations will be used to support the very programs that he loved and for which he worked so hard to raise funds. To donate: https://events.childrens-specialized.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.event&eventID=578