Eugenio Garza Sada
Encyclopedia
Eugenio Garza Sada 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 founded the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education
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...

 in 1943.

Early life

Garza Sada was born to Isaac Garza and Consuelo Sada. His father Isaac, together with his uncle and other entrepreneurs, founded the Cuauhtemoc Brewery, now Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery
Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery
Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma Brewery is a major brewery based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, founded in 1890...

, in 1891.

In 1913, the Garza Sada family left Mexico for security reasons, as they had backed the reactonary interests of Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...

 during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...

. They settled in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. During those years they faced financial difficulties, as the Cuauhtemoc Brewery, their major source of income, was unprofitable during the Revolución. Garza Sada worked as an usher for a movie theater and as a salesman in a clothing store. He enrolled in Western Military Academy
Western Military Academy
Western Military Academy was a private military preparatory school located in Alton,Il. Founded in 1879, Western Military Academy closed in 1971. The campus is located in the National Register of Historic Places District...

, a military school in Alton, Il., for high school. He studied civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, graduating in 1917.

Professional life

In 1917, when the family was able to return to Mexico from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, the brewery was given back to the Garza Sada family with the intervention of the American and the Russian government. Garza Sada began working at the brewery 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...

, where his father was Director-General, the equivalent of a modern CEO. His first job there was in the statistics department, and from there he was promoted to positions of greater responsibility. After his father died, Garza Sada was named the company's Director-General, alternating the job with his brother Roberto.

During their management, they started a large number of businesses to support beer production, such as a glass company to make the beer bottles, which later became Vitro. They also opened Grafo Regia, a business which produced labels for the bottles and boxes for the finished product. He and his brother also founded Hojalata y Lamina de Monterrey, known today by its acronym, HYLSA.

Philanthropic activities

In 1943, along with a number of other prominent businessmen, Garza Sada founded the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education
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...

 on September 6, 1943, with the hope of creating an educative institution with strong principles and high academic standards. His belief was that an "institute of technology" was a better model than a university because an institute of technology would create a more capable and business-oriented workforce for his industries as well as for other local industries.

Kidnapping attempt and death

During the 1970s the Mexican political situation was difficult, with several groups looking to destabilize the government, including communist guerillas who sought funding for their activities. One of those guerillas groups, Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre
Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre
The Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre , or LC23S, was a Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla movement that emerged in Mexico in the early 1970s...

, planned to kidnap Garza Sada for ransom. On the morning of September 17, 1973, a small group of 23 de Septiembre guerillas ambushed Garza Sada's car at a red light in downtown Monterrey. The kidnapping attempt turned into a gunfight when Garza Sada's bodyguard intervened, and Garza Sada was killed by multiple gunshot wounds received while reaching for his own gun. Garza Sada's funeral was attended by more than 200,000 people.

In 2006, a Mexican Secret Police document filed in the Mexican National Archives uncovered that the Mexican government was aware of the kidnapping conspiracy a year before it actually happened, yet did not prevent it for political reasons.

Eugenio Garza Sada Award

The Eugenio Garza Sada Award was created in the memory of Garza Sada to preserve his values and ideas. This award is financed by 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...

, the holding company of the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery, and by the Monterrey Institute of Technology.

Legacy

Garza Sada helped transform Monterrey into an industrial city. He and his brother founded several companies in Monterrey: Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery, Hylsa, Titan, Grafo Regia, and others. Garza Sada's companies extended social benefits to their employees, such as medical, educational and financial aid, at a time when such benefits were not required by law. A major avenue that passes by the Monterrey Institute of Technology bears his name.

External links

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