Eugenio Garza Lagüera was a Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 businessman and philanthropist who served as chairman of the board of the Monterrey Institute of Technology

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education

The Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education commonly shortened as Monterrey Institute of Technology or Monterrey Tech is one of the largest private, nonsectarian and coeducational multi-campus universities in...

 (ITESM) and Femsa

FEMSA

FEMSA is the largest beverage company in Mexico and in Latin America and as of September 2011 also the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the world. FEMSA originated as the Cuauhtémoc Brewery in 1890, which, through debt management, was restructured as FEMSA in 1988...

; Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

's largest beverage corporation. In February 2008 he was laureated with the Business Social Responsibility Award from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968...

, a nonpartisan institution created by the U.S. Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 within the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

.

Biography

Garza Lagüera was born in Monterrey

Monterrey

Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...

 as the first son of industrialist Eugenio Garza Sada

Eugenio Garza Sada

Eugenio Garza Sada was a Mexican businessman and philanthropist who founded the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in 1943.-Early life:Garza Sada was born to Isaac Garza and Consuelo Sada...

 and Consuelo Lagüera Zambrano. After finishing high school at the Chaminade College Preparatory School

Chaminade College Preparatory School (Missouri)

Founded in 1910, Chaminade College Preparatory School is an independent Catholic Marianist school for boys in grades six through twelve. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis. The school is located in west St. Louis County, Missouri. Chaminade offers 7-day, 5-day, and...

 in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, he received a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...

 from the University of Texas and an MBA from the Monterrey Institute of Technology

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education

The Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education commonly shortened as Monterrey Institute of Technology or Monterrey Tech is one of the largest private, nonsectarian and coeducational multi-campus universities in...

, a private university founded and sponsored by his father.

He began his professional life at a laboratory of Técnica Industrial in 1947. In 1969 he was appointed to the Grupo Visa's board of directors, which he chaired starting in 1981. He also presided over the Serfín Bank during the peso

Mexican peso

The peso is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 15th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use its sign, "$". The Mexican peso is the 12th most traded currency in the world, the third most traded in the Americas, and by far the most...

 devaluation of 1982 and the subsequent nationalization

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

 of all private banks. Grupo Serfín lost half its size at that time and had to be reorganized accordingly. In 1991 when the government decided to re-privatize the banking system, Eugenio Garza Lagüera bought the Bancomer Banking Group.

Garza Lagüera, 84, died on 24 May 2008 in Monterrey, Nuevo León.