Greenhill Mourns Joseph Gonzales

Joseph “Joe” Gonzales passed away on March 3, 2026.

Gonzales, a Greenhill Legend, worked here from 1965 to 2000, starting as a Spanish teacher and soon becoming the language department chair. When the school began recruiting students from the Boys Clubs of Greater Dallas in the early 1970s, he volunteered to drive the van to pick up the students.

Throughout his thirty-five years on The Hill, Gonzales worked tirelessly to recruit and support a more diverse student body, serving as the school’s first Director of Financial Aid, and in 1993, becoming the school’s first Director of Diversity, the first position of its kind in the Southwest.

As much, perhaps, as anyone in the school’s history, Gonzales’ deep care and concern, his steadfast advocacy, and his creative problem-solving changed the lives of hundreds of students whose experiences and voices were not always centered and yet whose presence and perspectives were vital to Greenhill becoming the school it was destined to be. Truly beloved, his legacy as a lifeline and support over three decades on the Hill forever changed the trajectory of Greenhill School.

In 2005, Greenhill named the Heart of the Hill Green 4 group the Joe Gonzales Group in his honor.

A Greenhill celebration of life will be held on campus later this spring or summer. Additional details will be shared as they become available. We offer our deepest sympathy to his family and those in our Greenhill community who knew and loved him.

Photo credit: Eliana Campbell ’24