Dr. Gustavo J. Vollmer Herrera (5 January 1923 – 2 November 2014) of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

was an

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and prominent

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Background

Vollmer, alongside his brother Alberto J. Vollmer Herrera are the patriarchs of the Vollmer clan in Venezuela, the country's oldest business dynasty. Although extremely low profile, the Vollmer family maintains an active ownership and management role in a wide variety of business operations across the agricultural, consumer goods and financial services sectors. The family leads and controls

Mercantil Servicios Financieros Mercantil Servicios Financieros (Mercantil) is a Venezuelan holding company of financial services present in 9 countries in America and Europe . Its shares are listed on the Caracas Stock Exchange (MVZ.A and MVZ.B) and it maintains a Level 1 Am ...

, the country's leading financial services institution in banking and insurance, with Vollmer's eldest son currently serving as Chairman and CEO. They also own and operate Venezuela's largest rum distillery and one of the worldwide leaders in premium rums, Santa Teresa Rum located in

El Consejo El Consejo is a city in the state of Aragua, Venezuela. It is the shire town A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Ta ...

, Aragua, as well as Central El Palmar, a vast sugarcane refinery, mill and plantation the family owns in neighboring

San Mateo, Aragua San Mateo is a city in the state of Aragua in Venezuela. It is the administrative seat of Bolívar Municipality. It was founded on 30 November 1620. San Mateo has a former cane sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar ca ...

. The Vollmer family are also renowned for backing the funding and development of numerous education initiatives across Venezuela. Among the most prominent was their 1963 donation to the Jesuit order of an 80-acre portion of their Hacienda Montalban, in central Caracas, to build what is today the

Universidad Católica Andrés Bello Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

, one of the top universities in Venezuela and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. The family is also active in promoting photography, art and culture through the Alberto Vollmer Foundation, and runs several award-winning initiatives in social development and inclusion through the Santa Teresa Foundation. Vollmer graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in Ithaca, New York, USA. Vollmer also served as President of the National Council of the Asociación de Scouts de Venezuela, President of the Interamerican Regional Scout Council, and as a member of the World Scout Committee of the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest international Scouting organization. WOSM has 173 members. These members are recognized national Scout organizations, which collectively have around 43 million participants. WOS ...

from 1963 to 1969 and again from 1973 to 1979. In 1969, Vollmer was awarded the '' Bronze Wolf'', the only distinction of the

, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, at the 22nd World Scout Conference. He also received the

Silver Buffalo The Silver Buffalo Award is the national-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. It is presented for noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth on a national basis, either as part of, or independent of the Scouting pro ...

in 1965, and the highest distinction of the

Scout Association of Japan The is the major Scouting organization of Japan. Starting with boys only, the organization was known as Boy Scouts of Japan from 1922 to 1971, and as Boy Scouts of Nippon from 1971 to 1995, when it became coeducational in all sections, leading to ...

, the Golden Pheasant Award, in 1968.

Background

References

Further reading