Florante Peter Ibañez, 74, passed away on Sunday, November 30, 2025. He lived a full life marked by passion to do what he loved: his family and community.

Florante was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 23, 1951. He graduated from Banning High School, and then continued his education at the University of California, Irvine. In 1974, while attending University of California, Irvine (UCI), he married his life partner and the love of his life, Roselyn Estepa. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Cultures from UCI in 1977.

Florante would later complete the joint degree program for Master of Arts in Asian American Studies and Library Information Science at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in 2006. He accomplished this while working at Loyola Law School, where he was the Manager of Library Computer Services until he retired in 2020. He was a librarian and archivist, as well as an adjunct professor at Pasadena City College and Loyola Marymount University. In 2014, Florante was appointed to the California Library Services Board by Governor Jerry Brown.

Florante was dedicated to family and the community. He was a co-founder of UCLA’s Samahang Pilipino and UCI’s Kababayan. He was involved in the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) and the struggle for social justice and the anti-martial law movement. He was a committed activist who fought to restore Philippine democracy, defended human rights, protected the right to access all ideas and information to prevent censorship and continued to build progressive politics (recently campaigned for Los Angeles City Mayor Karen Bass). He was always eager to contribute his time to volunteer work to many organizations. He was President of the Kayumanggi Lions Club and Asian/Pacific Librarians Association (APALA), and a Board Member of Search to Involve Pilipino American (SIPA), the Filipino American Library and FilAm ARTS.

He was an avid photographer at numerous family and community gatherings, cycled and ran countless roads and streets, was a talented musician (pianist and ukulele bass player) and mentored countless young Filipinos. He and Roselyn co-authored the book, Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay. He did a documentary, “Got Book?” on Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown, a Filipina-American educator and librarian. As part of Visual Communication Digital Histories Program in 2024, he did “The Fabulous Rocky Fellers,” a documentary on a Filipino-American boy band from the 1950s-60s and was working on the upcoming Filipino Peoples Far West Convention: 1971-1984. He was also interviewed in the PBS show, Lost LA: Historic Filipinotown on the yo-yo. He established the Florante Peter Ibanez Collection at CSU Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) documenting Filipino American history, culture, activism, and community events from roughly the 1940s to the 2020s, containing papers, photos, publications, audiovisuals, and ephemera, organized into seven series and housed in the university's Archives & Special Collections, offering primary source materials on the Filipino American experiences in the U.S.

Florante is preceded in death by his parents, Cleto Ibañez and Laura Rossi. He leaves behind his wife of fifty-one years, Roselyn Estepa Ibañez; daughters, Gabriela Nguyenphuoc and Mikaela Ibañez; son-in-law, Hoanvinh Nguyenphuoc; grandsons, Cleto BaoQuy and Liam BaoMinh Nguyenphuoc; his brothers, George and Jerry Rossi; and his sisters, Lauren Hallman and Irma Rossi.

The viewing will be held from 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at Green Hills Mortuary and Memorial Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Thank you for loving him as much as he loved all of us.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to help with costs. Thank you for your compassion. Donations can be made here.