Gustavo Izquierdo was primarily known as the father of Elisa Izquierdo. Elisa was a beautiful six year old girl who was murdered by her mother in 1995 in New York City. Her case is considered one of the worst cases of child abuse in New York City history. Her death inspired a law in New York State called, "Elisa's Law". Elisa's Law holds child welfare agencies publicly accountable for their actions by allowing the public to know the details of abuse cases. When the public can see what mistakes were made, those mistakes can be rectified.

Gustavo Izquierdo was born in Havana, Cuba on Nov.26th, 1954. While growing up in Cuba, dance was his passion. In the evenings and on weekends, he would choreograph folkloric dances for local companies and socialize with ballet dancers. In May of 1980, thousands of Cubans boarded boats headed for Miami. Gustavo,who wanted to teach dance and who wanted a better life for himself, also decided to make the journey. He arrived in Miami, May 17th, 1980.

From Miami, he went to New York City to stay with his aunt, Estela Canizares, who lived in Queens. He soon moved into his own apartment in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, NY. Realizing dance instruction wouldn't bring him a steady income, he took a job working as a community aide in a homeless shelter in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. He was known as a hard worker and had various duties including cooking, dispensing clean linens and making sure the children got off to school. Often at recreation hour at the shelter, Gustavo would teach the children Cuban dances.

In 1987, he met Awilda Lopez, a shelter resident who had a drug problem. They had a relationship and two years later, their daughter, Elisa was born. Custody was given to Gustavo who at 34, found himself to be a single father with a new born baby girl. The first day he brought Elisa home from the hospital he made plenty of panicky calls to female acquaintances for advice on taking care of her. Co-worker, Cynthia Nuldrow, recalled,"We helped him with formula, we showed him how to change diapers,comb her hair...He caught on fine. He loved that little girl". Gustavo took parenting classes at the local YWCA and after he got the basics down, it was said that he thrived in his new role as father. Gustavo worked long hours at the shelter everyday and every other weekend, earning $1,675 a month to take care of Elisa. While he was at work, he left Elisa with neighbors and friends. Sometimes he'd bring her to work with him and co-workers would watch her.

Gustavo and Elisa had many happy times together. He took her on outings to the circus, to the movies, to the park. He had stacks of pictures of her in his wallet. Once when Elisa turned four, he rented a banquet hall,complete with chandeliers, to celebrate her baptism into the Catholic Church. Barbara Woodruff, who lived next door to Gustavo and Elisa recalled, "when you saw this man walking down the street with his kid, he was a proud daddy. He was really proud. She was just as proud being his daughter as he was of being her father." Gus's friend, Mary Crespo, recalled,"She was his life. He would always say Elisa was his princess."

In 1990, when Elisa was one, Gustavo enrolled her in the YWCA's Montessori preschool. Every morning he'd get up and iron a new dress for her and put her beautiful hair into pigtails and braids and buns. Barbara Simmons, Elisa's teacher at the preschool recalled, "how many men brush their little girl's hair and part their hair in a perfect straight line"? When Gustavo fell behind on tuition, the staff was so fond of him and Elisa that they recommended them to Prince Michael of Greece, a benefactor at the school. Elisa was learning to dance and impressed Prince Michael so much that he offered to pay for her entire private school tuition all the way up to college at the prestigious, Brooklyn Friends School.

In 1991, Elisa's mother, Awilda Lopez, was granted unsupervised weekend visitations with her daughter, by the courts. During those weekend visits, Elisa was being abused. Gustavo petitioned the courts to terminate the visitations and they stopped for awhile.

In 1994, Gustavo became sick with cancer. He was a heavy smoker and would have problems climbing a flight of stairs. He became concerned that Awilda would regain custody of Elisa because he was sick. He devised a plan that he shared with his cousin, Elsa Canizares, to send Elisa away to Cuba to keep her safe from Awilda. Gustavo Izquierdo died from cancer on the day he was planning on putting Elisa on the plane. The tickets were already purchased.

Gustavo's cousin, Elsa Canizares applied for custody of Elisa but the courts awarded custody to Awilda. On Nov.22, 1995, A year and a half after the death of her beloved father, six year old Elisa Izquierdo was murdered by her mother. It was the day before Thanksgiving.

Gustavo's cousin, Elsa Canizares passed away in 2007 at the young age of 44. She is also loved and will be missed. Gustavo is survived by his aunt, Estela Canizares.

Gustavo Izquierdo was a dancer, a choreographer,and more importantly, a loving and caring father who was devoted to his daughter, Elisa.