Enrique Godoy Sayán (August 6, 1902 – July 15, 1984) was a Cuban business magnate and banker. He was the founder of the insurance conglomerate Godoy-Sayán Oficina Aseguradora de Cuba Insurance Company, which dominated the insurance industry in Cuba from the 1920s until 1960. He recovered his family's nobility title Marques de la Cañada Hermosa de San Bartolomé.

Early life

Enrique Godoy Sayán was born in Lima, Peru in 1902 to Raúl Godoy y Agostini and Angélica Sayán y Palacios. He was sent to Cuba to study at the prestigious and avant-garde school Colegio Inglés de Marianao in 1912. In Cuba, his uncle, the banker and poet Armando Godoy, became his mentor.

Career

He founded Banco Godoy-Sayán de Ahorro y Capitalización in 1954. Godoy revolutionized the insurance industry in Cuba by introducing the fire and allied lines insurance into the island. After the Cuban Revolution, he moved to Manhattan, New York, where Banco Godoy-Sayan had its United States offices, in 60 Wall Street. Meanwhile, the Godoa Sayan insurance company was seized by the Fidel Castro government in October, 1960. He returned to Spain in 1960 as the European representative of the banking group Crestar Bank, then

United Virginia Bank Crestar Bank was a bank headquartered in Richmond, Virginia with branches in Virginia and Maryland. It was the leading subsidiary of Crestar Financial Corporation. In 1998, it was acquired by SunTrust Banks. At that time, it was the largest indep ...

, now merged with Suntrust Bank. In 1964 he bought the financial group ABC de Crédito,''ABC de Crédito''

Fundación Juan March The Fundación Juan March is a foundation established in 1955 by Juan March, who was Spain's richest man. The foundation produces exhibitions as well as concert and lecture series. Its headquarters in Madrid houses a library devoted to contemporar ...

CEACS - the first financial group to introduce credit cards in Spain.

Personal life

Enrique Godoy Sayán was married twice. His first wife was Florence Steinhart, daughter of railway mogul Frank Steinhart, with whom he had no children. In 1937 he married his second wife Malvina Arnoldson de Godoy, daughter of Sweden's General Consul

Oscar Arnoldson Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

. He had two children by his second marriage: Malvina Godoy Arnoldson and Enrique Godoy Arnoldson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayan, Enrique Godoy 1902 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Cuban businesspeople Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States Businesspeople from Lima Marquesses de la Cañada Hermosa de San Bartolomé Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in Spain Peruvian emigrants to Cuba