Dr. Luis H. Laosa

Dr. Luis H. Laosa walked out of his house in Havana with his family in 1961 headed to the United States with just $5 in his pocket.

Starting all over again in Texas he eventually became the superintendent at the Austin State Hospital where he fought for patients' rights before retiring in 1984. The hospital serves mentally ill patients.

Laosa, 87, died Tuesday at the Summit in West Lake Hills, a retirement community, from complications from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, said one of his sons, Mike Laosa, the publisher of the Austin American-Statesman.

Laosa was passionate about being an advocate for patients and proud that he helped develop a bill of rights for them, Mike Laosa said. "He was a very humble man who believed in the word 'we' first and the word 'I' last," he said.

In 1974, while Luis Laosa was superintendent at the hospital, the facility received the Commissioner's Award, which was the highest recognition awarded by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.

He had fled Cuba because of communism and brought his wife, Gloria, her mother, his son Mike and a cousin. Before the family left Cuba they sent on the two oldest children - Luis and Richard - to take refuge in the United States. At the time, Mike Laosa said, his parents "were concerned about Castro's bent for putting boys in military training camp and indoctrination around the age of 14 so they wanted them out of the country. They sent them on hoping that we would unite later."

Indeed, the family was reunited at a friend's home in Miami. A graduate of Havana University Medical School, Luis Laosa moved the family to Austin because he knew someone here from medical school, Mike Laosa said.

He didn't know any English when he arrived in Austin but taught himself, Mike Laosa said. The family initially lived in a few rooms above the kitchen at a facility for mentally ill men called the Confederate Home for Men on West Sixth Street, Mike Laosa said. He said his father worked as a doctor's aide, got his medical license in Texas and then started his residency in psychiatry in 1967 at the Austin State Hospital.

He was appointed superintendent at the hospital in 1972. "He treated co-workers and even patients almost like family members," said Judy Dibble, who was Laosa's administrative assistant for 11 years at the hospital. "He was deeply interested in meeting their needs and helping them as one would help a brother or sister," she said. Laosa also enjoyed joking with everyone and called her "la secretaria," Dibble said.

"He was such a delight to work for that after 11 years I chose to retire from Austin State Hospital in 1984 at the same time he retired," she said.

In 1976, Laosa created hospital guidelines for the use of anti-psychotic drugs, according to a story about his retirement in the Sept. 6, 1984, edition of the Austin American-Statesman. Similar guidelines were later adopted by other mental hospitals.

The article said Laosa also developed regulations in 1979 on caring for suicidal patients, causing the hospital's suicide rate to drop. He also led the hospital after the 1981 settlement of a class-action lawsuit that required improvements in patient care and reductions in the number of mental patients assigned to each worker.

Mike Laosa said his father was very focused on his work but also played the violin, enjoyed classical music and could write the notes down as they were being played. After he retired in 1984, he traveled through Europe with his wife, gardened and spent time with family and friends. He was married for 61 years to his childhood sweetheart.

Survivors include his wife, Gloria Laosa; son Mike Laosa and his wife Caryn; son Luis Laosa; son Richard Laosa; and a sister, Esther Consuegra. He also is survived by several grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. Services are pending.