Barbara Davis Escobar, Class of 1983

Environmental Sciences, Community Volunteer

Barbara Angelina Escobar or Barbie Davis, as she was known at Tucson High School, was an exceptional human being in every way: smart, kind, humble, and generous. She was also bilingual in Spanish and English. Born and raised in Barrio Viejo, she attended the University of Arizona, where she earned her B.S. in Agriculture and was as an initiate of the Scholastic Honor Society, Gama Sigma Delta. At Tucson High, “Barb” was in the Top 25 and G.A.T.E., played varsity volleyball, and made the all-city academic/sports team. She and her husband, Martin Escobar, who also attended Tucson High, were the Class of 1983 Homecoming Queen and King. Their children, Levi, and Miranda are also Badgers who were raised in Barrio Viejo.

In addition to her long and impressive career in the environmental sciences, which culminated in serving as Director of Pima County’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Barbara was an engaged community member. She was an active Tucson High parent, who ran the snack bar for wrestling games and supported Mexican American Studies, which she wished had existed when she was at Tucson High. She served on the Badger Foundation Board and was a member of the Pima County Library Advisory Board for two years. She was also a state-certified mediator and participated in an average of four cases a year from 2012 until 2022.

Before working at the DEQ, Barbara served in numerous leadership positions for the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department, where she gained extensive experience overseeing and managing regulatory affairs, as well as managed a budget of more than $4 million and supervised a staff of more than 60 people. During Barbara’s career, she served as Vice-Chair of the Environmental Laboratory Advisory Council and Chair of the National State Assessor Bimonthly Teleconference Forum, 2006-2022. She also fulfilled the National Drinking Water Chemical Laboratory Certification and wrote and presented numerous papers on analytical ethics and data integrity for national conferences on water quality.

Barbara fought cancer for six years and stepped down as DEQ Director three months before her passing in April 2023