When former Watsonville City Councilman Manuel Bersamin retired from his seat in 2012 to care for his ailing 95-year-old mother, The Pajaronian asked him for advice to future council members.
“Try not to speak so much,” he said. “I was sometimes too wordy, but I’ve learned that sometimes the less you say the more effective you are. I think it took me a long time to figure that out.”
Bersamin, who in 2003 became the first first Filipino American to serve on the Watsonville City Council, and the first to serve on Cabrillo College’s governing board in 2024, and whose career in education included time at Hartnell College, CSU Monterey Bay, UC Santa Cruz and CSU Fresno, died Sunday. He was 67.
Bersamin served for 18 years as the Director of the Hartnell College Student Support Services programs.
Before that, he worked as the director of the College Assistance Migrant Program at CSU Monterey Bay, as the Director of the Early Academic Outreach Program at UC Santa Cruz and as an Adjunct Professor of Chicano and Latin American Studies at CSU Fresno.
Bersamin attended Cabrillo College in 1982 as a first-generation, low-income student. From Cabrillo, he transferred into UC Irvine, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in social ecology.
He devoted his career to the education of first-generation, low-income students and to assist them with entering higher education, he worked as a migrant education counselor in the K-12 schools.
Later deciding to work in post-secondary education to pull students into higher education, he was accepted into Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, where he focused on becoming an administrator in colleges and universities.
While at Stanford, he earned fellowships for Ph.D graduate studies in Higher Education that he pursued at the University of Arizona, so he could focus on researching how to improve access, retention, and graduation rates for Latinx, Black and indigenous students.
Bersamin announced his retirement from the Watsonville City Council—where he served as both Mayor and Vice-mayor—in 2012 to care for his ailing mother.
At the time, he told The Pajaronian that the highlight of his tenure on the council was cutting the ribbon to the mobile home park as residents’ children played around him.
Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo, who served on the council with Bersamin, said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of his death.
“I want to express my sincerest condolences to his family, loved ones, and all who were touched by his leadership and friendship,” Alejo stated in a Facebook post.
“I was honored to serve alongside Manuel on the Watsonville City Council, including during my time as Mayor. He was humble, kind, thoughtful, and principled, always guided by what was right and just for our community. His legacy is one of service, dignity, and love for the people he served.”
He also served the Marines for 4 years.
He was also the Director of TRIO Student Services at Hartnell College for almost two decades.