Elías Ahúja Y Andría

Elías Ahúja y Andría (January 8, 1863 – July 20, 1951) was a Spanish philanthropist, politician, businessman and academic. He was born in Cadiz and died in New York City. He studied commerce at the Technical Institute of Boston. In 1903 he moved to the Republic of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and became Vice-president and later Director of the "Dupont Nitrate Company". In 1922 he returned to Spain and founded the "Elías Ahúja Charity", associated with the

Good Samaritans The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First, a Jewish priest and then a ...

. Interested in culture, he founded several sports, military, religious and educative institutions. He constructed hospitals, clinics, dining halls, schools, quarters, city council buildings, provided the poor with food, helped widows and orphans and did work to improve conditions in jails and sanitoriums. He did much work to assist the Institución Exploradores de España (

Scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

) in

Puerto Santa Maria Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

and his work favored other cities like

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, Cadiz,

Paterna de Rivera Paterna de Rivera is a small town located in the province of Cádiz, Spain. According to the 2005 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This ...

Espera Espera is a city located in the province of Cádiz, Spain. According to the 2005 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostl ...

and

Villaluenga del Rosario Villaluenga del Rosario is a village located in the province of Cádiz, Spain. According to the 2005 census, the city has a population of 481 inhabitants. It is located down Navazo Alto mountain, within the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park The S ...

among others too. He was a candidate in the last elections of the Monarchy as and also an academic of the Real Hispano Americana y Bellas Artes de Cádiz. He was honorary president of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

in Cadiz and Seville and was awarded state decorations for his philanthropy like the Military service cross, the Gold medal of the Red Cross, the Cross of the Civilian order, and the Gold medal of the Scouts, etc. However he was later accused of misusing funds and was forced to leave Spain in 1937 through

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. He died in 1951 in New York City. His name is honored in

and has a place and house dedicated to him and a council plaque. One of the campuses of the City University of Madrid takes his name. Spanish philanthropists 20th-century Spanish politicians Politicians from Cádiz 1863 births 1951 deaths {{Spain-politician-stub